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SWITZERLAND 2006 

Following their best Eurovision result in over a decade Swiss broadcasters SRG/SSR decided to have an internal selection, for the second year in a row. Songwriters from all over Europe submitted potential Eurovision entries, and on November 9th it was announced that the song that was chosen to represent Switzerland is Athens was written by Eurovision veterans Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger. While the song has yet to be made public, it is rumoured that it may be a peace anthem. The songwriting duo had their their only Eurovision win, when "Ein Bisschen Frieden" sung by Nicole, won for Germany in 1982. You can see a news report on the 2006 Swiss  Eurovision entrants is here.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 1st : The title of the song has now been confirmed as "If We All Give A Little.

THE SONGWRITERS

RALPH SIEGEL

Born into a musical family in Munich in 1945 (his father wrote the 1957 German entry "Telefon, Telefon"), Ralph Siegel studied music in Germany and the UK before becoming a successful composer and record producer during the 1960's. He is also the man behind the Jupiter record label. His most recent Eurovision involvement was in 2004 as producer of the Maltese entry "On Again, Off Again". He holds the record for the writing more Eurovision songs than anyone else, being co-writer of the following entries;

Luxembourg 1974 - "Bye, Bye, I Love You" (Ireen Sheer), 4th
Germany 1976 - "Sing, Sang, Song" (Les Humphries Singers), 15th
Germany 1979 - "Dschinghis Khan" (Dschinghis Khan), 4th
Germany  1980 - "Theater" (Katja Ebstein), 2nd
Luxembourg 1980 - "Papa Pingouin" (Sophie & Magali), 9th
Germany 1981 - "Johnny Blue" (Lena Valaitis), 2nd 
Luxembourg 1982 - "Ein Bisschen Frieden" (Nicole), 1st 
Luxembourg 1985 - "Children, Kinder, Enfants" (Margo, Franck Olivier, Diane Solomon, Ireen Sheer, Malcolm Roberts & Chris Roberts ), 13th 
Germany 1987 - "Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz" (Wind), 2nd 
Germany 1988 - "Lied Für Einen Freund" (Maxi & Chris Garden), 14th
Germany 1990 - "Frei Zu Leben" (Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac), 9th
Germany 1992 - "Träume Sind Für Alle Da" (Wind), 16th
Germany 1994 - "Wir Geben 'ne Party" (MeKaDo ), 3rd 
Germany 1997 - "Zeit" (Bianca Shomburg), 18th
Germany 1999 - "Reise Nach Jerusalem " - (Sürpriz), 3rd
Germany 2002 - "I Can’t Live Without Music" (Corinna May), 21st
Germany 2003 - "Let’s Get Happy" (Lou), 12th
Dr. BERND MEINUNGER

Born in Meinungen/Thuringia in 1944 and holds a doctorate in economics. Since 1978 he has a successful career in music and has contributed to over 400 German hit singles, as either a songwriter, musician or record producer. In the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, he was involved as a songwriter of both the Swiss and German entries and (along with Siegel) is one of the few songwriters to have two entries in competition in the same contest. He his Eurovision history includes the following songs;

Germany 1979 - "Dschinghis Khan" (Dschinghis Khan), 4th
Germany  1980 - "Theater" (Katja Ebstein), 2nd
Luxembourg 1980 - "Papa Pingouin" (Sophie & Magali), 9th
Germany 1981 - "Johnny Blue" (Lena Valaitis), 2nd 
Luxembourg 1982 - "Ein Bisschen Frieden" (Nicole), 1st 
Luxembourg 1985 - "Children, Kinder, Enfants" (Margo, Franck Olivier, Diane Solomon, Ireen Sheer, Malcolm Roberts & Chris Roberts ), 13th 
Germany 1987 - "Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz" (Wind), 2nd 
Germany 1988 - "Lied Für Einen Freund" (Maxi & Chris Garden), 14th
Germany 1990 - "Frei Zu Leben" (Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac), 9th
Germany 1992 - "Träume Sind Für Alle Da" (Wind), 16th
Germany 1994 - "Wir Geben 'ne Party" (MeKaDo ), 3rd 
Germany 1997 - "Zeit" (Bianca Shomburg), 18th
Germany 1999 - "Reise Nach Jerusalem " - (Sürpriz), 3rd
Germany 2002 - "I Can’t Live Without Music" (Corinna May), 21st
Germany 2003 - "Let’s Get Happy" (Lou), 12th

Switzerland 2005 - "Cool Vibes" (Vanilla Ninja), 8th
Germany 2005 - "Run'N'Hide" (Gracia), 25th

THE PERFORMERS

The casting session to choose the singers for Switzerland's entry was held between 25th and 27th November in the Olympia Studios in Munich. The organisers' stated aim was to find singers with the winning combination of voice and personality. Rather than setting out to create a boy or girl band band, they were looking for six soloists with strong voices, to represent Switzerland in Athens. Producer and composer Ralph Siegel, along with those in charge of Eurovision at Swiss national broadcaster ultimately selected six artists from six different countries. The singers' names were made public on December 1st and below you can find information on them. The group will go under the name of "six4one".

Above left to right ;

Andreas Lundstedt, from Sweden, is a member of the world-famous band Alcazar. Andreas has been in show business since he was a child. At the age of five he took second place in a talent contest, and by 15 was singing and appearing on television in the child band "Stage Four". After spending two years in New York, he returned to take part in the Swedish national heats for the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, in which he was runner-up with "Driver Dagg Faller Regn". The track was a huge hit in Sweden. A year later he tried again with "Jag Saknar Dig, Jag Saknar Dig" and finished 7th. He then became a founder member of Alcazar who scored a massive international hit with "Crying At The Discoteque". The group continued to be popular and subsequently became a foursome with Andreas's boyfriend of the time Marnus Carlsson leaving Barbados to join Alcazar. In 2003 the group came 3rd in the Swedish Eurovision selection with "Nor A Sinner, Nor A Saint". The hits kept coming and in 2005 they once again tried to make it to Eurovision, but once again finished 3rd in the Swedish final, with the song "Alcastar". During the summer Alcazar decided to take a break and concentrate on solo projects and Andreas has since gone on to star as Toni Manero in "Saturday Night Fever" in Stockholm.

Tinka Milinovic is from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Born in Sarajevo, at 17 she moved to the USA, where she studied singing at Louisiana College. In 1996, she graduated cum laude as Bachelor of Music, and continued her studies at the University of Louisiana's School of Music, where she majored in opera singing, performance and teaching, receiving a Master of Music degree. In addition to playing a variety of roles in numerous operas and musicals, she performs as a soloist and has also worked with the Sarajevo Philharmonics. In 2002 she appeared at the Eurovision as a backing singer for the Bosnian entry and in 2005, Tinka took part in Bosnia and Herzegovina's national Eurovision Song Contest heats. Here, she was the TV audience's favourite but was placed second by the nine-strong jury. The song she performed "Sometimes I Wish I Were A Child Again" was supposedly written by Serge Bonheur and Gunter Johanson, but this was a thin disguise for Sigel and Meinunger. For two years, Tinka has had her own radio talk show on Bosnia and Herzegovina's biggest radio station. In addition to that Tinka is in her 4th season as host of the highest ranked TV show in the country, the "TV Bingo Show".

Keith Camilleri is another well-known singer and he comes from Malta and is popular on the Mediterranean island for his passionate voice. A regular guest on Maltese TV shows, Keith enjoys the popularity in his country and travels around the world to pursue his dream of becoming an internationally famous artist. In February 2004, he took part in the Maltese national Eurovision Song Contest heats, coming fourth with the song "Tango For Two". In 2005, Keith again enjoyed musical success in Malta with the track "Sunshine In Your Eyes". This year he also participated in a project performing in Italy with Robbie Facchinetti of the world famous group "I Pooh". Keith won't be the only person from Malta in Switzerland's delegation in 2006. Grace Borg the former supremo of Maltasong, the Maltese Eurovision selection, who resigned earlier this year in a dispute over the use of foreign songwriters will also be part of the Swiss camp in Athens.

 

Above left to right ;

Claudia D’Addio is the only member of the sextet to actually come from Switzerland. Claudia has been known as "The Voice" since her appearance on the "Music Star" talent show. Along with the other "MusicStars", she has already celebrated two number-one hits. The "Music Star show provided the 2004 Swiss Eurovision entrant Piero Esteriore, but Claudia was nor one of the MusicStars than accompanied him on stage in Istanbul. Apparently Claudia's incredible voice makes her without doubt one of Switzerland's best singers and her passionate performances give away her Italian roots. Swiss television were apparently very keen that a member of the group should come from Switzerland and earlier rumours suggested that Francine Jordi who performed in Tallinn in 2002 might be making a return to the contest.

Marco Matias' roots are in Portugal. Although his parents emigrated to Germany, he returns regularly to his homeland. Marco and his band took third place in the "Grand Prix" music contest for the Portuguese-speaking world in Portugal in 2000. Three years later he took part in the open casting session to find the voice of Germany 2003. Out of 12,000 entrants, Marco made it to the last nine and was ultimately placed second in this major production. Marco and his duet partner Nicole Süssmilch came second place in the German national final with the Ralph Siegel song "A Miracle Of Love".

Liel Colette from Israel is just 16 and the youngest member of the sextet. She has already shared a stage with musical giants such as Elton John, Bono and the Scorpions. In the past two years alone, she has given more than 100 concerts around the world, and is already being celebrated in the USA and Germany as the new Céline Dion. Liel uses her music as a way of campaigning for world peace. Colette has been singing on stage since the age of four and won a European talent contest aged just 11. At the age of 14 she performed live for US President Bill Clinton. Earlier this year she won the German Steiger Music Award. 2006 will not be the first time that an Israeli singer has represented Switzerland: In 1963, Esther Ofarim came second at the Eurovision Song Contest in London with the song "T'en Vas Pas". Ofarim went on to have a hugely successful international career in later years.

six4one

Interestingly this is not the first time that a multi-national group has been assembled especially for the Eurovision Song Contest. Exactly twenty years ago Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger tried the very same ploy, when their song "Children, Kinder, Enfants" was chosen to represent Luxembourg. Despite assembling some great musical talent from various countries, the song finished in 13th of 18 in Gothenburg.

It is however worth remembering that in those days it was juries who voted and today it is the public that awards the points and many see the tactic of involving popular singers in other countries as a clever attempt to secure additional support at Eurovision. Last year Greece's winning entry was performed by Helena Paparizou who was born and raised in Sweden and already had a large fanbase there. Sweden awarded its top points to Greece, Similarly the Swiss song in Kyiv was performed by an Estonian band and who earned the top points from its home country.

It has yet to be established when the Swiss song will made public, although rumours suggest that it could be as early as January, and there is also speculation that the group may perform at some other countries national finals or on other television shows outside of Switzerland.