Anita Traversi

Anita Traversi
Born (1937-07-25)25 July 1937
Origin Giubiasco, Switzerland
Died 25 September 1991(1991-09-25) (aged 54)
Genres Pop
Occupation(s) Singer

Anita Traversi (25 July 1937 - 25 September 1991) was a Swiss singer, best known for her participation in the Eurovision Song Contests of 1960 and 1964.

Early career

Born in Giubiasco, Traversi was encouraged by her musician father and started orchestra singing in the mid-1950s, including with the orchestra of the Italian language Swiss radio channel. In 1956, she took part in the Swiss selection for the first Eurovision Song Contest, but "Bandanelle Ticinese" was not chosen.[1] In 1959, Traversi obtained a recording contract in Italy, and went on to record a number of songs with Adriano Celentano, including the top 10 hit "Piccola". Anita Traversi represented Switzerland at several Song Festivals in the world with a great success,as Sopot (Poland), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), "Golden Orpheus" (Bulgaria). She appeared to Song Festival in Sopot two times, first in 1962 with a song "Una certa sera" (A.Scotti) and with a Polish song "Jesienna rozłąka" ("Dis moi, dis moi") Gert-Brok. She was awarded with the First Prize for the best performance. In 1968, she was in Sopot for the second time singing for Switzerland. In "Polish Day" she performed a Polish song "Odra rzeka"("Odra")Pałasz-Fiszer and this time she was placed the second after Annarita Spinaci (Italy). During the festival she performed a fantastic song "Balalaika" which was one of the most favourite of that festival. In 1970 she was one of the big stars at "Golden Orpheus" in Bulgaria with a great performance of the Bulgarian song "Edna bylgarska roza" ("One Bulgarian rose"). And in Rio de Janeiro she was among the rewarded singers too.

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1960, Traversi's second attempt at Eurovision was successful when her song "Cielo e terra" ("Heaven and Earth") was chosen as the Swiss entry for the fifth Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in London on 29 March.[2] A dramatic orchestral ballad, very typical of early Eurovision, "Cielo e terra" finished in eighth place of 13 entries.[3][4]

Traversi tried again to represent Switzerland in Eurovision in 1961 ("Finalmente")[5] and 1963 (with three songs, including her first attempt in the German language),[6] but did not make it in either year. She finally got her second chance in 1964, with "I miei pensieri" ("My Thoughts") being selected to go forward to the ninth Eurovision, held on 21 March in Copenhagen.[7] However, this rather plain ballad did not find favour, being one of four songs to finish at the bottom of the scoreboard, having failed to score.[8][9]

Later career

From the mid-1960s, Traversi's career foundered as her recordings met with little success. In 1967 she featured again, unsuccessfully, in the Swiss Eurovision heat.[10] By the early 1970s she had effectively retired from showbusiness to devote herself to family life. She did however make one final appearance, with two songs, in the Swiss Eurovision selection of 1976, once more without success.[11]

Death

Traversi died of undisclosed causes in Bellinzona on 25 September 1991, aged 54.

References

External links

Preceded by
Christa Williams
with "Irgendwoher"		 Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
1960 		Succeeded by
Franca Di Rienzo
with "Nous aurons demain"
Preceded by
Esther Ofarim
with "T'en va pas"		 Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
1964 		Succeeded by
Yovanna
with "Non, à jamais sans toi"
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