Ferry Graf (14 December 1931 - 26 July 2017) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n singer, who later became a Finnish citizen.

Career

Before his musical career, Ferry Graf worked as a

locksmith Locksmithing is the work of creating and bypassing locks. Locksmithing is a traditional trade and in many countries requires completion of an apprenticeship. The level of formal education legally required varies by country, ranging from no formal ...

. In 1959, Graf was selected by the Austrian broadcaster

Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF ; , ) is the national public broadcaster of Austria. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Austria was the last country in ...

(ORF) to represent the country in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1959 The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the 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 Broadca ...

, with the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

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 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 historically used for White people who dwell in rural area, rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, ...

music, as well as German cover versions of

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

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...

, where he also died in 2017.

References

External links

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

Career

See also

References

External links