The Road To Baku - I Quattro

Swiss TV have announced the line-up of their National Final to be held on December 10. Eurocovers already did a bit about la Grandmère D'Eurovision Lys Assia in this post, and I'm glad she's through to the final 14.

One act Lys Assia will have to compete against is I Quattro, not the sons of Suzi (unfortunately), but a group of four tenors Roger Widmer, Simon Jäger, Damian Meier and Matthias Aeberhard.
Their debut album Passione from 2009 reportedly shifted 30.000 copies in Switzerland. This album includes a coverversion of Io Senza Te (Me without you), the 1981 Swiss entry originally by Peter, Sue and Marc*.
The song ended in 4th place and was a hit in Dutch as Het Is Nog Niet Voorbij (It's not over yet) for Willeke Alberti in 1982 and for Gerard Joling in 2008. (Both are Dutch Eurovision singers). A Swedish version was recorded by Kicki Moberg (Leva Utan Dig).
The song was covered in Italian, French, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish and Norwegian.
Below is the Io Senza Te video from the 2009 TV show Die Grössten Schweizer Hits, which was more or less the breakthrough moment for I Quattro.

Update: I Quattro ended 4th in the Swiss national final. Read all about the winner here at the Baku Collection.



On the second I Quattro album Emozioni two Eurocovers can be found. Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi (Don't leave without me) is the Swiss 1988 winner by Celine Dion. Viver Senza Tei (To live without you) is the Swiss entry from 1989. It was performed by Furbaz, the group of Marie Louise Werth and the songs main claim to Eurovision History fame is that it's the only Swiss entry ever to be performed in Romansch, the language of the Graubünden area.
Emozioni also includes a coverversion of Lys Assia's Oh Mein Papa.
The third I Quattro album was their 2010 Christmas album Winterträume.

The I Quattro are sensitive boys: all their Eurocovers are about loneliness and stuff. So it's no surprise their Eurovision effort is titled Fragile. The song will be performed in English and is a big classical ballad you might expect from four tenors.

Peter, Sue and Marc.

* Eurovision anoraks already knew this but if you didn't: Peter Sue and Marc are in the Eurovision History-Book-On-The-Shelf for participating four times (quite a feat in itself) in four different languages.

Their first entry Les Illusions De Nos Vingt Ans which was in French (12th in 1971). 1976 song Djambo Djambo was in English (4th place).
In 1979 German language song Trödler Und Company took them to 10th place, albeit with the help of some blokes called Pfuri, Gorps and Kniri and their assortment of garden utensils. (Oh, those golden days when Eurovision was only about the music....).
The final and arguably best Peter, Sue and Marc effort was Io Senza Te, sung in Italian and reaching 4th place in 1981.

Listen to the 2012 Swiss final songs here at SF TV.
For more on Eurovision 2012 check The Baku Collection.
Some more Swiss Eurocovers: Swiss Lady from Kenya, 'T En Va Pas - Dana Valery, Refrain - Jula de Palma, Flo Sandon's.