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In 1956 she was the first to win the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européenne. Lys Assia would have been 100 years old on March 3rd.
There are over 50 years between these two appearances: Lys Assia in 1956 at the first Eurovision singing competition in Lugano. It’s hard to make out in the sea of flowers. An elegant young woman. In French she sings: “Refrain d’amour, parfum de mes vingt ans.” Plus an orchestra, musicians in white tuxedos. And two boys in shorts shyly holding on to their bouquets of flowers.
And then, in 2013: Lys Assia applied again with four rappers to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. In front of the brick walls of Zurich’s industrial buildings, the four dance around a dazzling-looking grande dame. The text this time: “It’s all in your head, everything’s in your mind.”
Everything is in the head. But what is left? The young woman with French charm and the mature artist – both appear confident. Knew exactly what they wanted. Charmed the audience. Gave the contemporary taste what it wants.
In 2013, however, it was not enough to take part in the ESC. In 1956, 22-year-old Lys Assia became the first and so far only Swiss-born woman to win the Eurovision competition with “Refrain”.
Amateur orchestra with the family
Lys Assia was born on March 3, 1924 in Rupperswil, Aargau. The father ran a tinsmith’s shop and the mother was of noble origins. Music was made at home. “We formed a kind of amateur orchestra,” Assia recalled in one SRF broadcast for her 90th birthday.
Rosa Mina Schärer, as she was called back then, quickly learned the business of music. «We went to the farms. My brother played the guitar, I sang. Soon it was raining five and ten centimes,” Assia said on the show.
In Paris she represented Josephine Baker
Whether she actually paid for her first ballet and singing lessons is more valuable as an anecdote than it is actually true. The young artist quickly moved to Paris. There, where the music life, during the day and in the nightclubs, was bubbling. In 1948 she stood in for none other than Josephine Baker in one of these glamorous nightspots.
Legend:
In the 1950s, the Swiss singer and actress Lys Assia became a global star.
Imago Images / United Archives
The breakthrough came with a song that will probably forever be associated with Lys Assia. “Oh my daddy!” by Paul Burkhard. Assia was repeatedly asked whether it was this song that made her famous. No, she replied: “I already had a world career back then. I took the song out into the world.”
The world back then looked different. Stages were also open to Lys Assia in the Middle East. Assia was acquainted with the Egyptian King Faruq. Through him she met the Persian royal family. And in Venezuela she had a television show. Backstage, on the film sets, Assia could be found with greats such as Zarah Leander, Hildegard Knef and Maurice Chevalier.
Her career in the music and film business was interrupted by two marriages. With an industrialist and a hotelier. Assia briefly entered the hotel business. Internationally, of course. But she returned to the stages. Until shortly before her death in 2018 at the age of 94.