Paola Del Medico, or Paola for short, was born on October 5, 1950 in St. Gallen (Switzerland). She is a Swiss pop singer and television presenter who is considered one of the defining figures of German-language pop music from the 1960s to the 1980s. Her music career began in her youth with appearances in talent competitions and her first singles in the late 1960s. In 1969, she represented Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Madrid with "Bonjour, bonjour" and came fifth; in 1980, she returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in The Hague and came fourth with "Cinéma". Paola sings mainly in German and French and her voice shapes the pop sound of the time. She releases numerous albums such as Die grossen Erfolge (1970), Paola (1974), Blue Bayou (1978) and Lieder die ich liebe (1980), which are all present in the charts. Her well-known singles include "Stille Wasser die sind tief", "Blue Bayou" and "Der Teufel und der junge Mann", which reached high positions in the German and Swiss charts. In 1980, she married the television presenter Kurt Felix; together they presented the successful Saturday evening show "Verstehen Sie Spass?" on German television from 1983 to 1990, which also brought her great popularity. At the age of 40, she largely retired from show business in 1990, but remained a cult figure in the pop scene. In 2023, she receives the Honorary Prix Walo for her life's work in the Swiss entertainment sector, an important jury award. Paola lives in Switzerland and occasionally appears on TV projects and at anniversary events.
