Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 by Mélanie René as the winner. In the second of the Eurovision semi-finals, Switzerland failed to qualify to the final, placing seventeenth and last out of the 17 participating countries with 4 points. Prior to the 2015 Contest, Switzerland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-five times since its first entry in 1956. Switzerland is noted for having won the first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Refrain" performed by Lys Assia. Their second and most recent victory was achieved in 1988 when Canadian singer Céline Dion won the contest with the song "Ne partez pas
Eurovision Song Contest but won the contest with the highest combined vote. The televote was won by Russia and the jury vote by Australia. In 2018, eventual winner Israel won the televote but only came in third with the jury vote (won by Austria). There have been a number of Eurovision artists and groups whose careers were directly launched into the spotlight following their win. Notable examples were ABBA, who won the contest for Sweden in 1974 with their song "Waterloo", and went on to become one of the most successful pop bands in history; the French Canadian singer Céline Dion, who won