Sebastiano Paù-Lessi, better known by his professional name Sebalter, is a Swiss singer-songwriter from the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. He first started as a singer in a hard rock band that made covers called The Stalkers, and then playing the violin for a folk band known as the Vad Vuc and leaving in 2012 to pursue a solo career.
Sebalter represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the folk country song Hunter of Stars. He placed 4th with 92 points in the second semi-final, and advanced into the final, where he placed 13th with 64 points - the best Swiss result since 2005.
He released his debut album entitled Day of Glory on January 9, 2015, which includes his Eurovision entry. His follow-up single, "Saturday", was released on July 18, 2014.
Sebalter was one of the members of the jury for the 2015 Swiss national final, representing the Swiss Italian broadcaster RSI in helping to pick Mélanie René as his successor. He also presented the Swiss jury votes during the 2016 grand final, replaying the whistling solo from "Hunter of Stars" during his segment.
He still does gigs across Switzerland and Italy as a trio with banjo player Rocco Casella and guitarist Mattia Bordignon, who performed with him in Copenhagen.
Sebalter released his second album, Awakening, on January 20, 2017. It debuted at #10 on the Swiss album chart, and he performed the lead single "Weeping Willow" during the 2017 Swiss final.
Between 2017 and 2019, he was a co-commentator for RSI at Eurovision alongside Clarissa Tami.
Trivia[]
- He shares the same birthday as 1990 Yugoslavian representative Tajči and 2016 Estonian representative Jüri Pootsmann despite being born 15 years after the former and 8 years before the latter.
- His stage name is a portmanteau of his first name (Sebastiano) and "alter-ego".
- His 13th-place finish in the final is the fourth-best placing for a Swiss artist in the 21st century, behind Nemo (1st in 2024), Gjon's Tears (3rd in 2021) and Luca Hänni (4th in 2019).
- His former band, The Vad Vuc, made the Expert Check round of the 2015 Swiss selection for Vienna, eventually losing the lone spot for RSI in the national final to Deborah Bough.
- Since 2014, he had been part of the Migros Christmas charity appeal in Switzerland along with fellow Swiss Eurovision alums Francine Jordi, Pepe Leinhard and Luca Hänni. They, along with other well-known Swiss artists, recorded a charity single in 2014 called "Ensemble".