UPD Switzerland 2006: Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger!

by Sietse Bakker 460 views

A song of Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger has been selected by Swiss television to represent the country at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. For Siegel, it will be his 18th Eurovision Song Contest entry, for Meinunger his 17th. It will be their 12th entry together. Bernd Meinunger (alias John O'Flynn) also wrote Cool vibes, the Swiss 2005 entry of Vanilla Ninja.

Composers from Spain, UK, France, Malta, Germany, Canada and Switzerland submitted entries to SF DRS, TSR and TSI. An internal jury selected the Swiss entry for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. As Switzerland came 8th with Cool vibes in the 2005 final, Switzerland already qualified for next year's final.

At this moment, Swiss television is looking for the right performer with a stong voice, live performance experience and experience in singing for a large audience. “We have strong voices among the potential performers, also Swiss”, Swiss delegation head Toni Wachter said.

Ralph Siegel's Eurovision Song Contest history
1974 – Bye, bye, I love you (Ireen Sheer), 4th place
1976 – Sing, sang, song (Les Humphries Singers), 15th place
1979 – Dschinghis Khan (Dschinghis Khan), 4th place
1980 – Theater (Katja Ebstein), 2nd place
1980 – Papa pingouin (Sophie & Magali), 9th place
1981 – Johnny Blue (Lena Valaitis), 2nd place
1982 – Ein bisschen Frieden (Nicole), 1st place
1985 – Children, Kinder, enfants (Margo, Franck Olivier, Diane Solomon, Ireen Sheer, Malcolm Roberts and Chris Roberts ), 13th place
1987 – Lass die Sonne in dein Herz (Wind), 2nd place
1988 – Lied für einen Freund (Maxi und Chris Garden), 14th place
1990 – Frei zu leben (Chris Kempers & Daniel Kovac), 9th place
1992 – Träume sind für alle da (Wind), 16th place
1994 – Wir geben 'ne Party (MeKaDo ), 3th place
1997 – Zeit (Bianca Shomburg), 18th place
1999 – Reise nach Jerusalem – Kudüs'e seyahat (Sürpriz), 3rd place
2002 – I can�t live without music (Corinna May), 21st place
2003 – Let�s get happy (Lou), 12th place

In 2004, he produced the Maltese entry On again…off again. Earlier this year, Siegel came second with a song in the German national selection.

Bernd Meinunger's Eurovision Song Contest history
1979 – Dschinghis Khan (Dschinghis Khan), 4th place
1980 – Theater (Katja Ebstein), 2nd place
1980 – Papa pingouin (Sophie & Magali), 9th place
1981 – Johnny Blue (Lena Valaitis), 2nd place
1982 – Ein bisschen Frieden (Nicole), 1st place
1985 – Children, Kinder, enfants (Margo, Franck Olivier, Diane Solomon, Ireen Sheer, Malcolm Roberts and Chris Roberts ), 13th place
1987 – Lass die Sonne in dein Herz (Wind), 2nd place
1988 – Lied für einen Freund (Maxi und Chris Garden), 14th place
1992 – Träume sind für alle da (Wind), 16th place
1994 – Wir geben 'ne Party (MeKaDo ), 3th place
1997 – Zeit (Bianca Shomburg), 18th place
1999 – Reise nach Jerusalem – Kudüs'e seyahat (Sürpriz), 3rd place
2002 – I can�t live without music (Corinna May), 21st place
2003 – Let�s get happy (Lou), 12th place
2005 – Cool vibes (Vanilla Ninja), 8th place (final), (alias John O'Flynn)
2005 – Run & hide (Gracia), 24th place (final), (alias John O'Flynn)

The song title of the Swiss 2006 Eurovision Song Contest entry is yet unknown. The Swiss participant will most likely be announced by the end of the year.