“Worse than an act of Sodomy”. That was how a member of the Israeli Parliament described Dana International’s sex change back in 1998, while orthodox rabbis opposed to the selection of Dana to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest, calling it “a message of darkness”.
2018 marks the 20th anniversary of Dana International’s iconic ‘Diva’ performance and her important victory at the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1998 Dana became Eurovision’s first ever transsexual winner, cementing Eurovision as a celebratory space for LGBTQ people everywhere.
Wearing a black Jean-Paul Gaultier dress with amazing coloured feathers, Dana celebrated her glamorous Victory at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena may 9th 1998.
20 years after the Contest in England, fans from all over the world still love ‘Diva’, which has turned into one of Eurovisions all time classics.
Last night Finnish Eurovision fans had a unique opportunity to experience the two-time Eurovision contestant, who was headlining Helsinki Pride 2018. Dana performed in front of a cheering and excited crowd, singing her winning entry alongside some of her other hits and a cover version of Tainted Love.
About Dana International
Dana’s offstage name is Sharon Cohen. She was born as a little boy in Tel Aviv in 1972 as the youngest of three. Her first memory of Eurovision was watching Israel’s victory in 1979, which made the contest a very popular event in her home country.
She knew she wanted to become a singer at the age of eight, when she watched Israeli singer Ofra Haza perform the song “Chai” in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest. Although the family was quite poor, her mother worked to pay for her music lessons.
Dana recognised she was gay at a young age and came out transgender at the age of 13. At 18 she earned a living as Israel’s first Drag Queen parodying famous female singers.
During one of her performances, she was discovered by the wellknown Israeli DJ Offer Nissim, who later produced her debut single “Saida Sultana” (“The Great Saida”), a satirical version of Whitney Houston’s song “My Name Is Not Susan”. A year after undergoing gender reassignment surgery, she won the country’s singer of the year competition in 1994. In 1995 she unsuccessfully applied to represent and tried again in 1998 with a new song, Diva, where she was picked by a committee and brought home Israel’ third Eurovision Trohpy.
In 2011 Dana returned to Eurovision with the song ‘Ding dong’, but failed to qualify.
