Marianne Mendt (née Krupicka; born 29 September 1945) is an Austrian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer and actress, best known for her participation in the 1971

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

Early career

Mendt trained as a jazz singer and toured as a singer and bass player, with group the Internationals, around Europe. Back in Vienna she was noticed by talent-spotter

Gerhard Bronner Gerhard Bronner (23 October 1922 in Favoriten, Vienna – 19 January 2007 in Vienna) was an Austrian composer, writer, musician and a cabaret artist, known for his contribution to Austrian culture in the post-World War II period. Life Born t ...

, who wrote for her the song "A Glock'n", which was used as the theme tune for a television drama and reached No. 12 when released as a single in 1970. Marianne Mendt published several 'Austrian versions' of well-known jazz and pop songs like

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" is a jazz song written by Joe Zawinul in 1966 for Julian "Cannonball" Adderley and which appears on his album '' Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at "The Club"''. The song is the title track of the album and became a surprise hit i ...

("I kann net lang mit dir bös' sein"),

Spinning Wheel A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning f ...

("A g'scheckert's Hutschpferd") and

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In "Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" (commonly called "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", "The Age of Aquarius" or "Let the Sunshine In") is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical ''Hair'' by James Rado and Gerome R ...

("Der Wasserkopf").

Eurovision Song Contest

In 1971, Mendt was chosen by broadcaster

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

to represent Austria with the song " Musik" in the 16th

, held in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

on 3 April. It marked Austria's return to Eurovision following a two-year absence. "Musik" – the only song performed at Eurovision to date in the

Viennese German Viennese German ( bar, Weanarisch, Weanerisch, german: Wienerisch) is the city dialect spoken in Vienna, the capital of Austria, and is counted among the Bavarian dialects. It is distinct from written Standard German in vocabulary, grammar, a ...

dialect – was drawn as the show's opening song, and at the end of voting could only manage 16th place of the 18 entries, after a somewhat nervous and hesitant performance from Mendt.

Later career

Mendt combined her singing career with acting in productions at the large Vienna theatres. In the 1990s, Mendt's acting career came to the fore, notably in the role of Gitti Schimek in TV drama ''Kaisermühlen Blues'' which ran from 1992 until 2000.''Kaisermühlen Blues'' at imdb.com
/ref> Mendt remains an active performer, regularly appearing at concerts and jazz festivals in Austria.

References

External links

Marianne Mendt website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendt, Marianne 1945 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Austria 20th-century Austrian women singers Austrian television actresses Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1971 Musicians from Vienna Actresses from Vienna 20th-century Austrian actresses