Switzerland Makes Its Selection

Swiss audiences chose their representative today on the show, Die Entscheidungsshow, which was broadcast live from Kreuzlingen. With only six contestants, Switzerland has a relatively small national selection process, compared to many other countries that spend weeks watching and voting, and whittle down several dozen competitors.

The line-up:
1. "Take Me Back to 23," Deborah Bough
2. "Singing About Love," Timebelle
3. "Fly," Licia Chery
4. "Hey Now," Andy McSean
5. "Time To Shine," Mélanie René
6. "Only Human," Tiziana

From The Vault: DJ BoBo

Peter René Cipiriano Baumann, better known as DJ BoBo, is a legendary Swiss singer, rapper, and music producer. He is one of the most well-known and popular musicians in Switzerland. He tours internationally and has received ten World Music Awards for being Switzerland's best-selling musical artist. He first achieved success in 1992, with the Euro-techno-dance song, "Somebody Dance With Me." Fifteen years later, in 2007, Swiss judges selected DJ BoBo to represent their country at Eurovision.

DJ BoBo was definitely onto something here. The vampire craze was about to hit hard in the United States. Stephanie Meyer's Twilight novels were the biggest selling books in 2008. That same year, the film adaptations of her novels, starring sexy teen vampire, Robert Pattinson, and the object of his sexy vampire desire, Kristen Stewart, were also released. They grossed $392 million (US) worldwide. The first episode of HBO's True Blood debuted in 2008. And a year later, another television show about sexy teen vampires, The Vampire Diaries, premiered. In America, vampires were really, really cool. You couldn't go into a Borders without seeing a dozen displays of sexy vampire spin-off books and keychains and coffee cups and other useless things.

But in Europe, DJ BoBo's "Vampires Are Alive" did not make it to the finals. Despite DJ BoBo's international fame, he received only forty points and placed twentieth in the semi-finals. The song was not without controversy: a group of conservative Swiss Christians drew up a petition to get the song disqualified, as they felt it celebrated Satanism and encouraged teen suicide. Additionally, many Europeans felt that DJ BoBo was too famous to participate in Eurovision. Perhaps that's why the song did so poorly.

Eurovision Royalty: Ruslana

In 2004, Ruslana became the first Ukrainian artist to win the Eurovision Song Contest. The Ukrainians debuted at Eurovision the year before; on their second try, Ruslana was awarded 280 points by audience votes, the most in ESC history at the time.

Eurovision Royalty: Céline Dion

Well, OF COURSE Céline Dion competed in Eurovision.

Eurovision Royalty: Lys Assia

Born in Switzerland in 1924, Lys Assia was the winner of the first-ever Eurovision Song Contest, held in 1956. She began her career as a dancer, but eventually transitioned to singing.

She returned to Eurovision in 1957 and 1958 to compete again for Switzerland, and she remains an important figure in the contest to this day. Every few years, she'll come out with a new song and attempt to re-represent her homeland.

Most recently, she teamed up with hip-hop group, New Jack, and recorded "All In Your Head." Switzerland decided to pass on this entry, unfortunately. Many were hoping that this mess would make it to the finals. But she's 89 years old, so good for her anyway.