Dana International

Sharon Cohen (שרון כהן; born 2 February 1969), professionally known as Dana International (דנה אינטרנשיונל), is an Israeli pop singer.

She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums.

She wanted to become a singer from the age of eight, when she watched Israeli singer Ofra Haza perform her song "Chai" in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest.

Although the family was quite poor, her mother worked to pay for her music lessons, and she stated that her childhood was happy.

She came out as transgender at the age of 13.

Dana International took her stage name from a feminized version of a childhood friend Daniel, who died in a car accident.

At 18 years of age, Cohen (still legally male at the time) earned a living as a drag queen, parodying many famous female singers.

During one of her performances, she was discovered by Offer Nissim, a well-known Israeli DJ, who produced her debut single "Saida Sultana" ("The Great Saida"), a satirical version of Whitney Houston's song "My Name Is Not Susan".

The song received considerable exposure and helped launch her career as a professional singer.

In 1993, Dana International flew to London for male-to-female sex reassignment surgery and legally changed her name to Sharon Cohen.

Returning home with her new name, that same year Cohen released her first album, titled Danna International, in Israel.

Soon after, the album was also released in several other countries including Greece, Jordan, and Egypt (In Jordan and Egypt the album sold illegally).

Sharon's stage name Dana International comes from the title track of the album, and was originally spelled with two n's. Danna International soon became a gold record in Israel.

After consolidating her initial commercial success with the albums Umpatampa (1994) and Maganuna (1996), she was selected in 1998 to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest with her song "Diva".

Placing first at the international competition, she came to public attention throughout Europe.

In 1994, Dana released her second, Trance-influenced album Umpatampa, which built on the success of her debut and provided further hit singles.

The album went platinum in Israel and has sold more than 50,000 copies to date.

Because of her popularity and the success of this album, she won the award for Best Female Artist of the Year in Israel.

In 1995, Dana attempted to fulfill her childhood dream of performing in the Eurovision Song Contest.

She entered the Eurovision qualifying contest in Israel with a song entitled "Layla Tov, Eropa" ("Good Night Europe") which finished second in the pre-selections, but became another hit single.

In late 1995, Dana released an E.P. called E.P. Tampa with three new songs and four remixes and special versions of her earlier songs.

In 1996, Dana released her third album, Maganuna.

Although this album was less successful than her previous efforts, it still reached gold record sales in Israel and included the hits "Don Quixote", "Menafnefet" (Waving) and the club favorite "Cinque Milla."

In 1997, Dana collaborated with the Israeli artist Eran Zur on his album Ata Havera Sheli, and together they sang the duet "Shir Kdam-Shnati (Sex Acher)" ("Pre-Bed Song (A Different Kind of Sex)") which became a huge hit.

She was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham with the song "Diva".

Dana was chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham with the song "Diva".

Orthodox Jews and others with conservative views were opposed to the choice and attempted to void her participation in the contest.

In May 1998, Dana performed "Diva" at the Eurovision final and won the contest with 172 points.

She became known internationally, and was interviewed by CNN, BBC, Sky News, and MTV among others mostly focusing on her life as a transsexual person before winning the contest.

Dana's own words "the message of reconciliation" were; "My victory proves God is on my side. I want to send my critics a message of forgiveness and say to them: try to accept me and the kind of life I lead. I am what I am and this does not mean I don't believe in God, and I am part of the Jewish Nation."

Dana released "Diva" as a single in Europe and it became a hit, reaching number 11 in the UK charts and the top ten in Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

Dana following up this success with the albums Free (1999), Yoter VeYoter (2001), HaHalom HaEfshari (2002) and Hakol Ze Letova (2007), she represented Israel in Eurovision a second time in 2011, this time with the song "Ding Dong", which failed to make it into the final.

The same year, she became a judge on the Israeli television music talent contest Kokhav Nolad.

Cohen was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a family of Yemenite-Jewish descent.

Her paternal grandparents lived in Petah Tikva.

She is the youngest of three children, and was named after an uncle who had been killed during a terrorist attack.

Though assigned male at birth, she identified as female from a very young age.

In 1999, Dana released "Woman in Love", a Barbra Streisand cover.

In May 1999, Dana again participated in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Jerusalem.

Dana was a part of the interval act and sang the Stevie Wonder song "Free".