Lys Assia, the first ever Eurovision song contest winner took part in the first three editions representing her native Switzerland (just like Corry Brokken did for the Netherlands).
However Lys holds the record of four entries as she sung both songs in 1956. Das alte Karussell wasn't a hit, but Refrain won the whole thing.
The year after she was back with L'enfant que j'étais finishing 8th and finally in 1958, third year in a row and she took Giorgio to the second place losing closely to France's Andre Claveau 27-24. Those two were real runaway favorites, as third placed Italy's Domenico Modugno's Volare only got 13 points.... Giorgio became a hit also in Italy and is played still today in its various cover versions and ... other things. Had it won, it could have changed Eurovision already before 1965 for more uptempo songs..... Maybe...
Lys started her career as a dancer but switched to singing in early 1940's. In 1950's and 1960's she also starred in about a dozen films, and continued to record music all the way to the late 2000´s.
Over the past two decades she became an Eurovision icon by being present in the contest most every year as an eager fan not shy telling the world who her favorites were, and she also attended various fan meetings and events over the years.
She also did two tries to come back to the contest with the help of Ralph Siegel in 2012 and 2013. C'était ma vie sounds like a testament, but the year after she was cool and hip with some rapping youngsters with All in your head.
We thought she would live forever but sadly she passed away yesterday and we never know what she thought about the 2018 songs.... Hello, how's the flow up there?
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