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Dana was born Yaron
Cohen in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1972. He was fascinated with
the stage from an early age, and later dreamed of performing at
the Eurovision Music
Contest, which though not well known about in the United States, is a huge event. He began
performed in drag throughout the
gay club circuit as a singer. His sound quickly found an audience and a career was
born. In 1993 Yaron secretly flew to London to under go SRS and returned as Sharon
Cohen. She released her first album that year, which went
gold. In her first attempt to win the Israeli
spot in the Eurovison she came in second, and friends told her
that a transsexual could never be chosen. Several albums
later she attempted again and in 1998 won the spot. Moreover, she
represented Israel with style and pride, and brought home to
coveted first prize singing her hit song, appropriately named
'Diva." In winning Eurovision Dana also secured her
countries right to host the next festival, which would generate
millions of dollars. The Orthodox Jewish community in Israel was
so horrified that a transsexual represented their country that
they wanted Israel to forgo their right to host the next festival
in a denouncement of Dana. Personally, I think they
were just jealous they couldn't wear the Bob Mackay gown as well
as she did. Dana is great, check out her music at the bottom
of this page. |
