Mary Roos

Mary Roos (born Rosemarie Schwab on January 9 1949) is a German singer and actress. Schwab was born in Bingen. At the age of nine, she recorded her first song "Ja die Dicken sind ja so gem?tlich" as Die kleine Rosemarie. It was not a major commercial success. In 1958, she also appeared in the film 'Die Stra?e'. Over the following years she would release many records and she also appeared in many singing competitions. Her first chart success came in 1965, when the single "Geh nicht den Weg" peaked at #36.

Schwab was born in Bingen. At the age of nine, she recorded her first song "Ja die Dicken sind ja so gem?tlich" as Die kleine Rosemarie. It was not a major commercial success.

In 1958, she also appeared in the film 'Die Stra?e'. Over the following years she would release many records and she also appeared in many singing competitions. Her first chart success came in 1965, when the single "Geh nicht den Weg" peaked at #36.

In 1969 she took part in the Grand Prix RTL International with the song "Die Legende der Liebe". The same year she reached the single charts again - "Das hat die Welt noch nicht erlebt" peaked at #19. Her first major success was in 1970 with the song "Arizona Man". It reached #9 in the single charts and remains her only top ten hit to date. The same year, she took part in the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. She was chosen to take part at the last minute. Edina Pop had to withdraw from the competition as she fell ill and Mary Roos was chosen to sing "Bei jedem Kuss" instead. Although she finished joint second among the six participants, the song was never recorded.

In the early 70s, Roos got her own TV show on German television. At the same time, she tried to start a career in France where she played the lead role in the musical "Un enfant dans la ville" with Michel Fugain.

In 1972, she entered the German Eurovision Song Contest national final for the second time. With her song "Nur die Liebe l??t uns leben" she finished second after the first round of voting, only one point behind Cindy & Bert, but got the overall victory after the second round of voting. After the reprise of the winning song, she was booed off stage and her victory caused a stir in Germany as she was not the winner of the first round and because of her mediocre vocal performance. In a later interview, she stated that she did not expect to win at all and that she was already removing her make-up when she was called back on stage. However, at the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 in Edinburgh, she finished third. The song was a minor hit in Germany peaking at #17 in the single charts.

Over the 1970s she released many singles and albums and was a frequent guest on music shows, although she did not have any further major hits. In 1975, she took part in the German national final again and finished third with "Eine Liebe ist wie ein Lied". Her fourth participation in the national final was in 1982 where she competed, amongst others, against her then husband Werner B?hm. She performed the duet "Lady" with David Hanselmann and finished eighth out of the twelve participants. The song commercially was the second most successful one of the year.

In 1982 she covered F. R. David's song "Words".

In 1984, Roos took part in the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest for the fifth and final time to date. She sang herself to victory with "Aufrecht geh'n". At the contest the song only received 34 points and finished 13th among the 19 contestants. Mary Roos was blamed for a bad vocal performance which she says was caused by an emotional crisis after her separation from her husband Werner B?hm the day before. "Aufrecht geh'n" would also be her last appearance in the single charts until 1999, when she released a German cover version of Cher's song "Believe" ("Leider lieb ich dich noch immer"). Today, she still does many live concerts and is said to be one of the most-booked singers of the Schlager genre.

From 1981 to 1989, Roos was married to party singer Werner B?hm (known as Gottlieb Wendehals). She is the sister of Tina York, another popular schlager singer in Germany.