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Lale Andersen – born Liese-Lotte Helene Berta Bunnenberg on March 23, 1905, in Lehe, Germany – was a chanson singer, songwriter and actress. She married at the age of 17 but divorced nine years later and moved to Berlin to study acting. She started performing music and comedy in local cabarets around Berlin. She gained notoriety thanks to the success of her song "Lied eines jungen Wachtpostens Lili Marleen", used as the theme song for German radio during the Second World War although it had not been successful when it was originally released in 1939. The song was so popular, she was awarded a gold disc for over one million sales. However, Nazi officials did not approve the song and it was removed from radio playlists. They also refused to allow her to perform in public, a ban that lasted for nearly nine months. Lale Andersen was so despondent that she reportedly attempted suicide. Due to her popularity, nine months later, Nazi officials allowed her to begin performing again, but she was not longer allowed to sing "Lied eines jungen Wachtpostens Lili Marleen". The government ordered her to record a more ‘military’ version of the song and she appeared in a propaganda movie and was forced to record several propaganda songs in English. After the end of the war, she stepped away from singing and married Swiss composer Artur Beul in 1949. Lale Andersen returned to recording with the 1952 single “Die blaue Nacht am Hafen”. In 1960, she had a hit with "Ein Schiff wird kommen" and represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest the following year with the song "Einmal sehen wir uns wieder". However, she only placed 13th out of 16 participants. She toured Europe, Canada, and the United States in the 1960s and undertook her farewell tour in 1967. She wrote several books including her autobiography, Der Himmel hat viele Farben, which was released in 1972. Shortly after the release of her autobiography, Lale Andersen died on August 29, 1971, at the age of 67. With a catalog of over 300 songs recorded throughout her career, Lale Andersen remains one of the most popular singers in Germany.
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