Gjon Muharremaj (; born 29 June 1998), known professionally as Gjon's Tears or Kev Bush due to his performance style being similar to "

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

", is a Swiss singer and songwriter. He was scheduled to represent Switzerland in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

with the song " Répondez-moi" prior to the event's cancellation. He was internally selected again as the country's representative for the 2021 contest with " Tout l'univers". He finished in third place with 432 points, at the time the best placing for

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

since

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Life and career

Muharremaj was born in

Saanen Saanen (; Highest Alemannic: ''Saanä'') is a municipality in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district. History The village was first mentioned in 1228 as ''Gissinay''. In 1340 it ...

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Switzerland to a Kosovo Albanian father from Gjinoc, part of

Suharekë Suva Reka ( sr-Cyrl, Сува Река) or Suharekë () or Therandë () is a List of cities in Kosovo, town and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality located in the District of Prizren, Prizren district of central-southern Kosovo. According to ...

municipality in Kosovo, and an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

mother from

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

, Albania. His father, Hysni, is a crane operator and mason. His mother, Elda, has worked in the Cailler chocolate factory after the family moved to Broc in 2000. He grew up in Broc, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and did

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

. When he was 7 years old, he discovered his passion for music during music class. Two years later he acquired his stage name after moving his grandfather to tears when he performed

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's "

Can't Help Falling in Love "Can't Help Falling in Love" is a song written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss and published by Gladys Music, Inc. The melody is based on " Plaisir d'amour", a popular French love song composed in 1784 by Jean-Paul-� ...

". In 2011, at the age of 12, he competed in the first season of the talent show '' Albanians Got Talent'', placing third in the final. One year later, he reached the semi-final of Die grössten Schweizer Talente, the Swiss version of

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

. In 2018, he started his band Gjon’s Tears and the Weeping Willows, consisting of himself and Gaëtan Guélat (drummer), Martino Lepori (guitarist), Pascal Stoll (guitarist) and Samuel Riedo (bassist). In 2019, he auditioned for the eighth season of the French singing competition ''The Voice: '' and reached the semi-finals with Team Mika. In the summer of 2019, the band performed at Swiss music festivals following Gjon’s ''The Voice'' participation, including the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

, Les Georges, and Les Francomanias. In March 2020, Gjon's Tears was announced by the Swiss national broadcaster,

Swiss Broadcasting Corporation The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (; ; ; ; SRG SSR) is the Swiss public broadcasting association, founded in 1931, the holding company of 24 radio and television channels. Headquartered in Bern, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation is a non-pro ...

(SRG SSR), as the country's representative at the

with the song " Répondez-moi". However, following the contest's cancellation due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Europe The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and al ...

, the broadcaster announced that he would represent the country at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

with a new song. His 2021 entry, " Tout l'univers" was released on 10 March 2021. "Tout l'univers" placed first in its semi-final. In the final, it won the jury vote and came sixth in the televote. Switzerland placed third overall, behind

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and eventual winner

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Gjon's Tears, along with the song's producers, won the Composer Award in the 2021 edition of the Marcel Bezençon Awards, voted on by a panel of participating composers in the 2021 contest. In 2021, he gave an interview for '' Vanity Teen'' magazine, talking about his success, the origin of his stage name and his result in the Eurovision Song Contest. In late 2021, he participated in ''The Voice All Stars France'', but was eliminated in the semi-final. In November 2021, Gjon was announced as Best Swiss Act at the

MTV Europe Music Awards The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. In March 2022, Gjon moved from Switzerland to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He released his sixth single, "Pure" on 28 October 2022, with the music video being released the following month. This music video includes 11 art-inspired scenes and a short appearance of

Geraldine Chaplin Geraldine Leigh Chaplin (born July 31, 1944) is an American actress whose long career has included multilingual roles in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German films. Geraldine is a daughter of Charlie Chaplin, the first of his eigh ...

. His debut album ''The Game'' was released on 28 April 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjon's Tears 1998 births 21st-century Swiss singers Living people People from Gruyère District Swiss people of Albanian descent Swiss people of Kosovan descent Swiss expatriates in France Got Talent contestants The Voice (franchise) contestants MTV Europe Music Award winners English-language singers from Switzerland French-language singers of Switzerland Eurovision Song Contest entrants