Ferry Graf (14 December 1931,

Ternitz Ternitz is a town and municipality (14,823 inhabitants end 2014) in the district of Neunkirchen in the Austrian state of Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of ...

- 26 July 2017,

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n singer, who later became a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

citizen.

Career

In 1959, Graf was selected by the Austrian broadcaster

Österreichischer Rundfunk ('Austrian Broadcasting Corporation'; ORF) is an Austrian national public broadcaster. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Aus ...

(ORF) to represent the country in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1959 The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 at the in Cannes, France, and hosted by French television presenter Jacqueline Joubert. Organised by the European B ...

, with the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

song " Der K und K Kalypso aus Wien" (The K and K Calypso from Vienna). The song ended second to last, in joint ninth place receiving four points. Although the song was released as a single, it was not a commercial success. In the years following his Eurovision participation, Graf made a few appearances in Austrian and German TV, including, playing at

ZDF-Hitparade The ''ZDF-Hitparade'', or ''Hitparade'' for short, by German TV channel ZDF, was one of the most popular and most well-known music television series presenting mostly German Schlager. From 1969 to 1984 the presenter was Dieter Thomas Heck. The ...

in 1969,https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1486731/ but made no major successes. In the 1970s, he moved to Finland, where he formed his own band, performing

Hillbilly Hillbilly is a term (often derogatory) for people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in southern Appalachia and the Ozarks. The term was later used to refer to people from other rural and mountainous areas west ...

music, as well as German cover versions of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's classic song. Ferry Graf had a Finnish citizenship and lived in

References

External links

* 1931 births 2017 deaths Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Austria 20th-century Austrian male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1959 Austrian emigrants to Finland Naturalized citizens of Finland {{Austria-singer-stub