<TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">René Baumann (born January 5, 1968) better known as DJ BoBo, is a successful Swiss singer, songwriter, dancer and music producer.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">René Baumann was born in Kölliken, Switzerland, to Italian father Luigi Cipiriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann. As a dance music producer, his first big success came with the single &quot;Somebody Dance with Me&quot;, which borrows its melody from Rockwell&apos;s Somebody&apos;s Watching Me. After this, he charted well with the singles &quot;Keep on Dancing&quot; and &quot;Take Control&quot;. From 1992 till 2007 he had 27 single chart-hits in Switzerland and Germany.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">René has received numerous golds and platinums for his songs and has found success in Europe (primarily Germany, Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina), Israel, and South America. René&apos;s more recent songs are a departure from eurodance, but he hasn&apos;t completely abandoned the genre, as seen from non-single tracks such as &quot;Moscow&quot; (2001), &quot;No More Pain&quot; (2003), and &quot;Amazing Life&quot; (2005).</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">One of his singles, &quot;Chihuahua&quot;, was used in a 2002 Spanish Coca-Cola commercial and went on number one in the single-charts of Spain and Mexico. In 2003 it was re-released due to its huge success and it ended being the best selling single of the year 2003 world wide. With this song DJ Bobo went on number one in the charts of Switzerland and France, number two in Czech Republic and Italy and number 36 in United Kingdom. In December 2004, the Cantonese version of &quot;Chihuahua&quot; was written by Wyman Wong as the theme song of the same product. This version was performed by Joey Yung.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In 2004, as a result of the success of &quot;Chihuahua&quot;, René was awarded the Swiss award for show business at the Swiss awards, an annual event meant to recognise high achieving Swiss people.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">As well as being a eurodance performer and producer, René is also a choreographic dancer.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>2007 Eurovision Song Contest</B><FONT SIZE="10"></FONT></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">On October 11, 2006 DJ Bobo announced in a press conference that he had applied to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In past years, Switzerland&apos;s entry has not necessarily been a Swiss national. Most notably, Canadian Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland. In DJ Bobo&apos;s press conference, he told reporters that &quot;It&apos;s a shame for Swiss tax payer money from the TV licence fees to go to fund a foreign act, and the people should resist that.&quot;</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In December 2006 the Swiss TV Council announced that they had chosen Bobo out of over 200 applicants to represent Switzerland in Helsinki. The council earned some negative comments for the selection as not having been fair towards lesser known Swiss artists.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">On February 21 2007, DJ Bobo revealed both the song and video he would enter in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. The song was titled &quot;Vampires Are Alive.&quot;</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Despite being one of the favorites to win the contest according to many bookmakers, the song failed to get past the semi-final stage on May 12. It finished twentieth out of twenty eight semi-finalists.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>World Food Programme</B><FONT SIZE="10"></FONT></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">DJ Bobo became a United Nations World Food Programme National Ambassador Against Hunger in October 2006, becoming the first Swiss celebrity to take up the role. He was also a participant in the 2006 Geneva Walk the World event.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Family</B><FONT SIZE="10"></FONT></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In 1993 René met Nancy Rentzsch; she joined his team in 1995. René and Nancy became a couple and in 2001 they married. René and Nancy have two children.Jamiro-René born 2002 and Kayley-Nancy born 2006.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT>