News - Switzerland: Michael von der Heide presents his song tonight | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2010 Oslo, Norway 

Michael von der Heide, who was chosen to represent Switzerland at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, will presentIl pleut de l'or, his song for Europe, to the public for the first time tonight at the prestigious annual TV show SwissAward. The show will be broadcast by all three national channels.

Michael von der Heide has been working in the Swiss music scene since 1996, already having released numerous albums and given lots of concerts. Swiss television states to be glad about being represented at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest by an artist who is established in the Swiss music scene. However, this isn’t the first attempt for the singer to get a ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest: In 1999, he reached 6th place at the German preselection with a song called Bye Bye Bar.

In a first statement about his participation at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, von der Heide expressed his enthusiasm about the contest, stating that it is a childhood dream come true. He also said that he is not afraid to fail as he is geared to those singers who achieved great success for Switzerland, such as Lys Assia and Celine Dion, who both won with a song in French language.

Von der Heide will be acompanied in Oslo by Amanda Nikolic (31), known as  former member of the split- up girlband Tears, who climbed the top of the Swiss single charts with their first single Music, back in 2001. Morever, Tears were also performed the soundtrack of the German film Mädchen Mädchen 2. After the break- up of Tears, Nikolic has been pursuing her solo career, singing in musicals, as well as working as radio- and TV host. She was invited by Michael von der Heide himself to be a background singer for him at the Eurovision Song Contest and states that her engagement at Eurovision is a "dream come true" for her.

Besides Michael von der Heide, Laura Pausini, Nena, Jan Delay and Gotthard will perform at tonight's show, as well as the 2002 swiss Eurovision Song Contest representative Francine Jordi. Together with Jodlerclub Wiesenberg, Jordi will perform her smash hit Das Feyr vo dr Sehnsucht, which was voted the biggest Swiss hit of 2009 by a landslide. The song occupied the top of the Swiss single charts for seven weeks, thus making it the most successful folk song ever. Das Feyr vo dr Sehnsucht is the folk version of Francine Jordi's first song Das Feuer der Sehnsucht, which won her the Grand Prix der Volksmusik in 1998. However, her 2002 Eurovision participation was not equally successful: She came 22nd out of 24 with her self- written song Dans le jardin de mon âme. Michael von der Heide will be the first Swiss representative to sing in French again after Francine Jordi.