Ann Christy was the stage name of Belgian singer Christianne Leenaerts who began her music career with The Adams Orchestra and later married their drummer Marc Hoyois. She then embarked on a solo career which met with little success and following a tour with singer Salvatore Adamo won the Knokke Cup contest in 1968. She went on to release five studio albums and more than a dozen singles.
Following three failed attempts, she was selected to represent her home country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975 in Stockholm with the song "Gelukkig zijn", which finished in 15th place with 17 points, just 5 points behind the entries by the group Ashes & Blood of Yugoslavia and singer Sophie Hecquet of Monaco respectively.
Two years later, she appeared onstage in a musical adaptation of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the town of Mechelen, which ran for 152 performances and three years later scored a huge hit with the song "De Roos", a Dutch-language version of Bette Midler's "The Rose".
She was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1982 and passed away from the disease on 7 August 1984, just over a month before her 40th birthday.
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