Chris Kempers (born Christiane Kempers on 7 January 1965) is a German singer, best known for her participation in the 1990

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. Kempers took part in the German Eurovision selection in 1988 as a member of group Rendezvous with "Du bist ein Stern für mich", which only managed tenth place. In early 1990, she appeared on a television programme imitating

Jennifer Rush Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern; September 28, 1960) is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved initial success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums, including the million-selling single " The Power of Love", whic ...

, and was noticed by

Ralph Siegel Ralph Siegel (born 30 September 1945) is a German record producer and songwriter. Siegel is one of the most notable figures at the Eurovision Song Contest, in which he has participated with 24 songs so far, among them the 1982 winner song Ein ...

, who offered her the opportunity to perform one of his songs as a duet with Slovenian singer Daniel Kovac in the 1990 Eurovision selection, which was held on 29 March in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Kempers and Kovac went on to win the selection with the song, entitled "

Frei zu leben Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 with the song "", composed by Ralph Siegel, with lyrics by Michael Kunze, and performed by Chris Kempers and Daniel Kovac. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, (BR) ...

" ("Free to Live"). Although the victory was by a considerable margin, it was unexpected, as not only had the song itself been seen by many as somewhat trite, but it was also considered by many viewers that Kovac had given a shaky vocal performance. "Frei zu leben" went forward to the 35th Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 5 May in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, where it placed ninth of 22 entries. Following her Eurovision appearance, Kempers appeared in several stage musicals and worked briefly as a studio backing singer, but was unable to make a career breakthrough, and retired from the music industry soon thereafter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempers, Chris German women singers People from Mönchengladbach 1965 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants