Roger Cicero, German representative in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, has been awarded with the Fred Jay award, which is anually given out to musicians producing songs in German. It was the 20th time already the award was presented. Along with the prize, the winner receives 15,000 Euros.
The award is named after Fred Jay (1914-1988),a lyricist who himself is connected to the Eurovision Song Contest: in 1971, he wrote the lyrics to the German entry Diese Welt which finished 3rd performed by Katja Ebstein and co-wrote the lyrics of Luxembourg's entry in 1976 – Chansons pour ceux qui s'aiment, which finished 14th. He also wrote the lyricsto the German versions of some other Eurovision Song Contest songs: The Spanish entry in 1973 (Eres tú as Das bist du), the Belgian entry in 1975 (Gelukkig zijn as Wenn keiner mehr zu dir steht) and the German version of Chansons pour ceux qui s'aiment.
Roger Cicero won the award for his latest achievements in the music business being one of the first singers to succesfully perform jazz songs in German. His both albums released so far – Männersachen and Beziehungsweise – were commercially very succesful. In 2007, he won the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest and would represent his country in Helsinki with Frauen regieren die Welt. The song remains his only top ten single so far peaking at #7.
