Thomas Neuwirth in male form. conchita wurst before and after

Conchita Wurst is a stage name. Young pop singer Thomas Neuwirth performs below him. He was born on November 6, 1988 in an Austrian town called Gmunden. Even as a child, Tom loved to dress up and be photographed in women's clothing.

In adolescence, the young man realized that he was not interested in the opposite sex. He did not hide his orientation from classmates, but they did not appreciate his impulse: at school he was constantly bullied.

Tom at an early age understood another thing - he was attracted to music. At 18, he took part in the Austrian music show Starmania and placed second. A year later, he assembled his musical group, which lasted only a few months.

Luck smiled at Neuwirth in 2011, when he grew a beard, changed into a dress, called himself Conchita Wurst and appeared in this form on one of the music programs. It became not just his stage image, but an alter ego with his own biography, tastes and style. According to legend, Conchita spent her childhood in Colombia and then moved to Austria, where she decided to promote the idea of ​​​​gender equality and fight for the rights of sexual minorities.

The fictional character became a real salvation for Neuwirth. Before the advent of Conchita Wurst, Thomas could not even think about going out in a dress, and after world fame it became a common thing for him.

Neuwirth does not acknowledge the influence of other stars on his style, but fans note a suspicious similarity between Wurst and the quite feminine Kim Kardashian. Probably, they are related by fluffy false eyelashes, long hair extensions and fitted dresses, which both adore.

For her love of outrageousness, Conchita is also often compared with another defender of the LGBT community - Lady Gaga.

Conchita Wurst at Eurovision

Even on the eve of the competition, bookmakers predicted victory at Eurovision for an unusual girl with a beard.

Nobody believed it until the very end, until the majority of the audience actually voted for Austria. We must pay tribute to Conchita: in addition to a well-thought-out image, she impressed the audience with her singing talent.

Some countries were outraged by the results of the competition, but this did not dampen the ambitions of the new star. Thomas and before reincarnation in Conchita Wurst dreamed of world fame and now he could turn around, after all, in more liberal France, Germany and America, his image was accepted with a bang. He took part in the Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show, was photographed on the cover of Rolling Stone and starred in a photo shoot with Karl Lagerfeld himself.

A wax copy of the musician was placed at Madame Tussauds in Berlin.

Thomas-Conchita enjoys his popularity and happily shows off his thin figure in tight outfits and posts photos in underwear on the social network without fear of criticism.

Apparently, the performer is making up for lost time over the past years, before the existence of Conchita Wurst, when his appearance and orientation were constantly laughed at.

Rumors about plastic

Conchita denies having plastic surgery. And it seems that we have to agree with this. In the photo of Conchita Wurst and Thomas Neuwirth before and after the alleged operation, neither enlarged breasts nor serious changes in the figure and face appeared. Judging by the confessions of the singer, he also did not perform sex change operations.

Most likely, Thomas will not turn to surgeons in the future. After all, the secret of Conchita Wurst before and after reincarnation is associated exclusively with lush facial hair, cosmetics and the right wardrobe.

In our crazy age, it is no longer so easy for a woman with a beard to shock the public. An ordinary woman with a false beard. But Conchita Wurst succeeded. She is perhaps one of the most extraordinary Austrian and world pop stars. This outrageous artist wanted to show the world that a person should not be wrapped up in a shell and obey public opinion.

Conchita Wurst is the stage name of an Austrian pop singer. The real name of the scandalous pop diva is Thomas Neuwirth. Thomas was born on November 6, 1988 in the resort town of Gmunden, in southeastern Austria. The future singer spent his childhood in respectable Styria, where he graduated from high school.

The fact that he shows a penchant for dressing up as a woman and unconventional tastes, Thomas realized in his early teens. Even then, he associated himself more with a woman than with a man, did not show interest in the opposite sex and did not hide this in the least from his peers. For which he paid. Since the Puritan society has always been biased against people like Neuwirth, the guy had a hard time. Thomas constantly heard ridicule addressed to him and endured bullying.

Even then, he realized that he would devote his life to the struggle for the right of every person to self-determination and for the equality of people of non-traditional orientation. Despite the fact that Austria was one of the first countries to recognize gays and lesbians as a separate social group, there was no need to talk about tolerance towards members of the LGBT community. Moreover, both then and now, according to Austrian laws, only a man and a woman can legally marry. And although same-sex partners have a number of rights, they have not yet been equalized in rights with families of different sexes.

Music

But the fateful star of Thomas shone brightly not only thanks to the recognition of being gay. In 2006, without makeup, he participated in the third season of the Starmania casting show, where young performers got a chance to prove themselves. Neuwirth finished in second place, behind only Nadine Beyler.


This success in the competition became the starting point for Tom to make his way to the big stage. Just then, Tom announced publicly that he was gay. The following year, the guy founded his own pop-rock group "Jetzt anders!", Which broke up almost immediately after the appearance. However, this failure did not break the novice musician at all, and he continued his desire for success, for which he entered the Graz Fashion School, which he graduated in 2011.

Remarkably, for his stage image, which was the transvestite Conchita Wurst, Neuwirth created a separate biography, strikingly different from his own. Everything is different. Unless age and height remained unchanged.


According to the fictional story, Conchita Wurst was born in the Colombian mountains, not far from Bogota, and only later moved to Germany, where she spent her childhood. She received the name in honor of her grandmother, and her father's name is Alfred Knack von Wurst. The word "wurst" in German means "sausage", and therefore journalists often mockingly called the singer "bearded sausage", but this did not touch Conchita herself.

According to Neuwirth, a clear distinction has always been made between his stage image and himself, they have different lives and destinies. But these people worked together, defended their own ideals and the rights of people like themselves.

Thomas Neuwirth first appeared in front of the public as Conchita Wurst in 2011, when he applied to participate in the show "Die grosse Chance" hosted by the ORF television company. Participation in the casting show brought Wurst unprecedented popularity, and the transvestite became a prominent figure in the country.

After that, Wurst participated in a show called "The Hardest Job in Austria", in which she had to work in a fish factory, and also tried to survive with other participants in the deserts of Namibia in the show "Wild Girls".

In order for society to listen to the opinion of Thomas, he decided to take Conchita Wurst to Eurovision, the most famous European music competition. According to Wurst, it does not matter how a person looks, what his sexual orientation is and where he comes from, because the main thing is what kind of soul he has, what he has inside.

Conchita took part in the national selection for Eurovision 2012, but then another performer got a ticket for the contest. In 2013, the ORF company, taking advantage of authoritarian rights, bypassing the audience's vote, announced that it was Wurst who would perform at Eurovision 2014.

This decision caused a resonance among the audience. More than 30,000 Austrian citizens expressed their negative opinion on social networks about such a decision. However, the company remained unconvinced. Conchita Wurst performed at Eurovision 2014 with the melodic composition "Rise Like a Phoenix".

On May 10, the Eurovision 2014 final took place in Copenhagen. The audience was waiting for the performance of the bright Conchita - the "bearded singer" from Austria, who became a real Eurovision phenomenon. As a result, more countries voted for it.


Wurst turned out to be an extremely sentimental "lady". Every 12 points Conchita met with tears. The struggle in the last minutes began between Austria and the country duo from the Netherlands. Countries caught up and broke away from each other, but in the end, the outrageous Conchita Wurst turned out to be stronger. Having won a prestigious competition, Conchita Wurst entered a truly real event in her biography: she won the right to host the next competition for Austria.

In 2015, after a resounding victory at the Euroshow, the outrageous icon recorded her debut album "Conchita", in which she included the song "Heroes" ("Heroes") - a dedication to her fans. A video was also filmed for this song. So the singer thanked them for their support, which helped her win Eurovision. The album went platinum less than a week after release.

The victory of such an outrageous singer at the contest caused a lot of criticism from politicians in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. They argued that this victory promoted the "erasing" of the boundaries between men and women.

In Russia, too, some politicians spoke out on this score. According to them, Conchita is propaganda of homosexuality and moral decay.

Conchita Wurst stated that she was ready for the negative reaction of the public. She had already encountered negative opinions about herself more than once and realized that people who had any prejudices against her personality subsequently abandoned them.


The image of a bearded woman repelled and surprised people, while arousing interest in the outrageous "lady". And it was already difficult to imagine this sexy brunette without a beard.

In the same year, the singer became the face of the largest Austrian bank, Bank Austria. And in the Madame Tussauds Museum in Berlin, they put her wax copy.


Thomas Neuwirth in St. Petersburg

In the fall of 2017, Conchita visited Russia for the first time. She came to the LGBT film festival "Side by Side". Conchita agreed to sing some songs at a club party. The club was packed, the concert went off with a bang.

Personal life

The personal life of the singer is far from a secret. Neuwirth admitted to being gay at the age of 17. Therefore, even now the public freely watched the life of Conchita.

In 2011, Wurst announced that she was dating burlesque dancer Jacques Patriac. A little later, she announced that she had been legally married to him for four years. This statement was confirmed by several well-known people.


Neither Conchita nor her common-law husband were afraid of the media, periodically opening the veil over their “personal life” to the public in the media. The network was flooded with photos of a bearded woman and her no less extravagant husband.

In 2015, Thomas Neuwirth said in an interview that Jacques is his close friend, and the love story with Conchita was just a fairy tale. According to Thomas, today he is free, while Patriak is in a relationship.


Around the personality of Conchita, rumors about plastic surgeries constantly spread. But the singer herself denied surgical intervention. Indeed, she did not resort to breast augmentation, did not change the shape of her lips and nose. There were no gender reassignment surgeries. The main secret of Conchita before and after reincarnation is associated exclusively with facial hair, cosmetics and women's wardrobe.

Conchita Wurst/Thomas Neuwirth has a tattoo on his back depicting his mother, who played a major role in his life.

Conchita Wurst today

In April 2018, Conchita Wurst shocked the public by announcing that. The singer fell ill many years ago and was not going to make the information public, but the former partner began to threaten, promising to reveal the secret to Conchita's fans. She told the truth in order to get ahead of the unscrupulous ex-lover. The singer also said that she has been receiving medical care for the past few years. Her family was aware. She feels well, full of strength and determination.


But many are not sure if everything is really the way Conchita says. And does the problem of HIV concern Thomas Neuwirth. After all, everyone remembers that Thomas and his alter ego initially had a different biography.

Back in February 2017, he talked about what is already. According to him, in the image of a woman with a beard, he already achieved a lot. The main thing is that with its help he managed to draw attention to the issues of tolerance and humanism.


But perhaps Neuwirth still found another use for Conchite. He decided to use it to try to draw attention to the problem of HIV-infected people and attitudes towards them. Now he regularly attends charitable events that support HIV-positive or AIDS patients. Not so long ago, he was in Vienna for the "Life Ball", which means "Life Ball". This is the largest such event in Europe.

In May 2018 in " Instagram» Conchita regularly began to appear "manly" photos. The image of the singer has changed dramatically. Tom Neuwirth admitted that at the moment he does not want to wear dresses. In one of the last shots, he is dressed “in a manly way” - leather trousers, a black T-shirt and boots with thick soles and lacing. The hairstyle has also changed - now no long curls. Some fans of the star write under the pictures that Conchita Wurst "died forever" for them.


Conchita Wurst/Thomas Neuwirth

The singer revealed that he plans to release a new album in 2018 under the name Conchita. But after that, the alter ego will be over.

Discography

  • 2007 - "Gut So" (as Tom Neuwirth in the group "Jetzt Anders!")
  • 2015 - "Conchita"
  • 2015 - single "You Are Unstoppable"
  • 2015 - single "Firestorm"
  • 2017 - single "Heast as net" (together with Ina Regen)

Conchita Wurst is perhaps the most scandalous character in modern show business. The victory at the Eurovision Song Contest brought the bearded woman deafening popularity. The reaction of the world community was mixed. But a few years ago it was impossible even in a nightmare to imagine that huge halls would applaud a woman with a beard.


Origins of Conchita Wurst

Conchita Wurst is the stage persona of an Austrian singer named Thomas Neuwirth. In the small village of Strii, this then-boy Thomas Neuwirth lived from birth. Even at a very young age, he repeatedly tried on his mother's dresses and high-heeled shoes. Then he realized that he was sexually attracted exclusively to men.

In the village, the guy had a hard time, because he did not think to hide his views. Tom Neuwirth has been open about being gay since high school. “In 2011, I once saw my reflection in the mirror, and I really liked myself. I had stubble, my eyes were made up, I realized that I had never looked so good, ”said Thomas, so the idea of ​​​​creating the image of a Cuban bristly beauty, which he called Conchita Wurst, was born.


Star career of Thomas Neuwirth as Conchita Wurst

The frail gay boy was of no interest to anyone. And then Thomas Neuwirth headed for shocking. Having painted on his thin beard, he put on a woman's dress and, clattering his heels, went to conquer the big stage as a drag artist. Neither the hero of "Hello, I'm Your Aunt" by Alexander Kalyagin, dressed as a woman, nor Jack Lemmon with Tony Curtis from "Only Girls in Jazz", caused such a sensation as Thomas Neuwirth with his image of Conchita Wurst. The first song contests did not bring first places, but the image became recognizable. In social networks such as VKontakte and Facebook, heated battles erupted over whether Thomas Neuwirth performed sex change operations. At first, the artist was mysteriously silent, but the international Eurovision Song Contest lifted the veil of secrecy over the double life of Conchita Wurst.

Conchita Wurst

No artist in the history of the contest has been so discussed as a woman with a beard, whose name was Conchita Wurst. Some countries even wanted to cut the time when Conchita Wurst performed from the air. But the organizers considered this a manifestation of homophobia towards representatives of sexual minorities, and threatened those who wished to be excluded from the competition. Song lovers from all over the world had to contemplate a monster with slender legs and facial hair. And "oh miracle!" Tom Neuwirth won the 2014 competition.

A huge scandal erupted. Ardent defenders of moral values ​​let all the dogs down on the singer. He, rubbing his beard and flapping thickly painted eyelashes, proclaimed himself the defender of natural manifestations in man. And he said that the sex change operation is the last thing. Before and after the Eurovision festival, he will remain a bearded gay in women's attire. And Conchita Wurst dresses very provocatively, judge for yourself by the following examples:

  • Without underwear. Specially on stage, Conchita Wurst comes out in tight-fitting outfits, under which there is no underwear. She seems to be answering a question about the operation. In the light of spotlights on the video, the outlines of modest manhood are frankly visible.

  • Neckline. The deep neckline on the dress ends at the level of the navel. What he shows is hard to say. Indeed, in the video and photo, the virginally naked male chest is clearly visible. Conchita Wurst reports that with all the craving for change, she will remain so, because she is the way God created her, and after the operation, naturalness will be lost.

  • Makeup. Conchita Wurst tints her beard for expressiveness. The star jokes that after shaving, she looks 12 years old. It is painted within an hour, and the wig is always ready in perfect condition. She doesn’t want to change her hair color, since blonde hair does not go well with dark stubble.

Life after Eurovision

Continuing to bathe in the rays of glory and receive multiple insults in his address, a man, or rather, a woman with a masculine nature, Conchita Wurst, is trying to turn over all biblical values. According to the artist’s interview, we can conclude that he is not at all opposed to children studying sexual minorities at school, and pictures of lesbian and homosexual families printed in books. After the competition, Thomas/Conchita is eagerly awaited in many countries of the world at various concerts, TV shows, TV programs. The only exceptions were some countries of the former USSR:

  • Russia. The strange image here seems frightening and repulsive. “This stage image is an insult to the majority of the population of Russia, and indeed of any other country,” said politician Vladimir Medinsky, organizing a collection of signatures among the population so as not to let the monster into the country.
  • Belarus. The Belarusians refused to air the artist's numbers and created a "Belarusian answer" to Conchite Wurst in the form of a zombie group "Sweet Brains".
  • Ukraine. Aspiring to Europe in the easiest ways, the country invited Miss Wurst to various shows. “Quarter 95” is a comedy show that met a world star.

Personal life of a bearded woman

The personal life of the star is strange and ambiguous. It is difficult to understand which events from it relate to Thomas himself, and which are associated with the image of Conchita Wurst.

  • Parents love Thomas/Conchita. They often accompany the star on the red carpet. The father is engaged in the production of meat products. He even vociferously named a variety of sausages after Conchita Wurst. This is indeed a sign of stardom.

  • Her husband. Since two individuals of different sexes live in one person at once, then if you ask if Thomas has a husband, he will answer no. But the spectacular Conchita is married. Her husband is the handsome burlesque dancer Jacques Patriac. The couple loves to pose in front of camera lenses. In the photo they are happy and smiling.

  • Children. With children, the situation with the singer is not very clear. “I want to record a new song album, but I still don’t know about children, I’m only 26 years old and I’m still waiting for my chance,” the artist says mysteriously. Since it is allowed in Europe to adopt children into homosexual families, the dreams of a bearded mommy can come true.

Tom Neuwirth, the newly minted defender of all “other” and “natural”, has become a guiding star for many transsexuals. Thousands of halls furiously applaud the woman with a beard Conchite Wurst. "This is the end of Europe," said one of Russia's well-known statesmen, although even the presidents dance wildly with Verka Serdyuchka, the same drag artist.

Video: Conchita Wurst - victory at Eurovision 2014

Thomas Neuwirth (also known by his stage name Conchita Würst, which is his female alter ego) is an Austrian pop singer, drag queen artist and artist. He attracted public attention after his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, in which he won first place. Conchita Wurst sang a triumphant song called Rise Like a Phoenix.

Thomas Neuwirth uses masculine pronouns when describing himself as a person, but when it comes to his stage image, he uses feminine pronouns. The resonance of the world community was caused by the fact that a certain girl with a beard appeared on the stage and sang a beautiful song. There is an opinion that Thomas Neuwirth won only because the European society showed its tolerance towards sexual minorities.

It turns out that tolerance has changed its true paradigm and turned into real propaganda. With all that said, the performance of Thomas Neuwirth (ie Conchita Wurst) at Eurovision 2014 was great. The vocal data of this "performer" causes goosebumps, and the meaning of the songs makes you touch your heart.

Many ordinary people and just Internet users do not know at all who Thomas Neuwirth is, but they know who Conchita Wurst is. This suggests that the popularity of this artist still remains doubtful for the countries of the former CIS. In fact, this is a gay man who appears in public in the form of a female alter ego. What Thomas Neuwirth looks like without makeup can be seen in the photo below. They say that in ordinary life, Neuwirth does not like attention and popularity. To solve this problem, he decided to go on stage as a woman.

Thomas Neuwirth: how old? Biography, early years

Thomas was born on November 6, 1988 in the city of Gmunden (Austria). He grew up and was brought up in the village of Bad Mitterndorf, where his family moved after his birth. Already at the age of three, the guy began to show interest in women's clothes. Thomas liked to get into his mother's or grandmother's wardrobe and look for any little thing to try on.

As a teenager, Neuwirth had already begun to show sexual interest in guys and men. At the age of seventeen, the guy stopped hiding his attraction, he began not to be shy about his orientation, that is, he made the so-called “coming out”.

From his school biography, Thomas Neuwirth notes that he had a hard time because he was a homosexual. The guy was often subjected to violence and collective harassment. He was bullied and made fun of in every possible way, as is typical of adolescent children. Along with this, Thomas had various fears and complexes that prevented him from living fully and feeling happy. It even got to the point that the guy went to the school toilet only during lessons, so that he would not meet anyone there and once again not be disgraced. Relatives and relatives always supported him, because they loved their son.

At present, when Thomas Neuwirth is a famous artist all over the world, his parents show him even more love than before. In one of the interviews, they said that Conchita is their desired daughter, which they never had.

The beginning of the creative path

In 2006, eighteen-year-old Thomas Neuwirth took part in the 3rd season of the Austrian casting for a talent show called Starmania. In this television competition, Thomas managed to take 2nd place, losing to Nadine Beyler. In 2007, Neuwirth joined a young boy band called Jet zanders!. However, creativity in this pop group did not work out - after a few months they ceased to exist.

Participation in television shows

In 2011, Thomas graduated from the Fashion Design School in Graz. After receiving his education, he went to the casting of the show "Big Chance", where he first appeared in the form of a woman with a beard. Here was born his creative pseudonym Conchita Wurst, which is his female alter ego.

However, participation in this show did not bring much fame. As a result, on the show "Big Chance" he took sixth place. This result upset Thomas, but he continued to come to all kinds of auditions in the form of Conchita Wurst. This became his hallmark. Thomas participated in a reality show called "The Hard Jobs of Austria", where he, in the form of Conchita Wurst, had to work as a fish cleaner. Then he took part in the German show Wild Girls, where, together with other participants, he “survived” in the dry and hot deserts of Namibia.

In 2012, Thomas, in the alter ego of Conchita Wurst, took part in the national casting for Eurovision 2012. Here he took second place, losing to the hip-hop group Trackshittaz with a minimal margin (49% to 51%). It is worth noting that the Trackshittaz duet subsequently did not make it to the final stage of the competition. In 2014, Conchita Wurst still managed to become the first in Austria to go to Eurovision 2014 in Copenhagen (Denmark). The main event took place on May 10, 2014, where Conchita Wurst took first place in the European Singing Championships, performing the gorgeous song Rise Like a Phoenix.

Career after winning Eurovision 2014

After the world learned what Thomas Neuwirth is famous for, he began to actively perform at gay parades. Conchita Wurst was invited to perform everywhere - in Madrid (Spain), Zurich (Switzerland), Antwerp (Belgium) and many other European cities where there are mass gatherings of LGBT supporters.

The most striking and large-scale performance was at Trafalgar Square in London (England). The singer's popularity grew exponentially, she was invited to various rating talk shows in Europe, for a couple of questions. The famous French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier has invited Conchita Wurst to model for his new collection of wedding dresses. After that, Conchita became a model for photographer Karl Lagerfeld.

On the same cover as the President of Russia

In the fall of 2014, the face of Conchita Wurst became the official advertising attribute of the large Austrian bank Bank Austria. At the end of 2014, the well-known Austrian edition of Profil recognized Conchita Wurst as the "person of the year". It is noteworthy that this title was shared with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

Music

In the spring of 2015, the first solo studio album called Conchita was released. In less than a week, this album achieved platinum status within Austria. In 2015 and 2016, Wurst was the winner of the Amadeus Austrian Music Award (both times in the category "Best Artist of the Year"). In the spring of 2016, Conchita's European tours took place in major cities in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Conchita Wurst

Conchita Wurst. Real name - Thomas (Tom) Neuwirth (Thomas "Tom" Neuwirth). Born November 6, 1988 in Gmunden (Austria). Austrian pop singer and drag queen. Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.

Thomas Neuwirth, who became widely known as Conchita Wurst, was born on November 6, 1988 in Gmunden (Austria).

He spent his childhood in the small village of Bad Mitterndorf in Styria.

From an early age, Tom showed an interest in women's clothing, and as a teenager he noticed that he was attracted to men. Living in a conservative village, Tom had to experience discrimination against LGBT people firsthand. He said that at school he was subjected to collective harassment. For example, out of fear, he only went to the toilet during lessons when no one was there.

It was also difficult for his parents. And they did not immediately accept his unconventional orientation. But then they began to support their son, whom, however, they began to consider a daughter.

At the age of 17, he came out, the first to know about this parents. “Moreover, I would not advise this way of coming out to those who are thinking about how to tell their parents about it. My parents, of course, were shocked by this fact,” he admitted.

“I participated in a TV show. I gave an interview where the host said: “Let's move on to your personal life.” Then I had two ways. I could lie, but I could be honest and say that I like boys. I chose the second path. The interview was supposed to come out a week later. Before the interview aired, I went to my parents to report what I said in the interview. The parents were very confused. They did not know how to react to them. They were very embarrassed," Tom recalled.

At the age of 18, Tom Neuwirth took part in the third season of the Austrian casting show for emerging pop artists Starmania, where he took second place, losing first to Nadine Beyler.

In 2007, he became a member of the boy band "Jetzt Anders!" which, however, lasted only a few months.

In 2011, Neuwirth graduated from the Graz Fashion School, after which in the same year he took part in the Austrian casting show "Big Chance" on the ORF channel, where he first appeared as a woman with a beard Conchita Wurst, performing the hit My Heart Will Go On. "If someone had told me ten years ago that I would become a bearded lady and people would like it, I would advise you to drink medicine," he said.

After placing only sixth on the show, Tom did not despair and in subsequent years continued to use the image of Conchita Wurst to participate in various reality shows on television in Austria and Germany - "Die härtesten Jobs Österreichs" (Die härtesten Jobs Österreichs) as a fish handler, and also in the show Wild Girls on the German TV channel RTL, in which, along with other German celebrities, he tried to "survive" in the deserts of Namibia.

As he explained, the idea for a bearded Hispanic woman came from the fact that he faced discrimination and bullying as a teenager. The image of Conchita Wurst has become a statement in defense of tolerance and acceptance of a person as he is. Tom Neuwirth said that he wants the new generation to think that being yourself is good, so that people care not about how a person looks or where he comes from, but what kind of person he is, so that people learn to look at and appreciate what what is hidden behind the facade.

There is no exact version of the appearance of the pseudonym Conchita Wurst. Concerning the name Conchita, Neuwirth gave various comments. According to one version, this is his nickname, which was once given to him by one of his Latino girlfriends. According to another version, the name Conchita is simply firmly associated with a "hot Latino", which is why it was chosen. In another interview, Tom claimed that the name Conchita is a diminutive of Concha, which is associated with femininity.

The surname Wurst also allows ambiguous interpretations. Neuwirth himself repeatedly in his interviews explained the meaning of the pseudonym by referring to the stable German expression wurst sein, which means “to be indifferent, indifferent” and in this context means that the appearance and origin of a person do not matter. In addition, the word Wurst in German means sausage. While the Spanish word conchita is a vulgar term for a woman's vagina, the name "Conchita Wurst" is therefore a verbal combination of masculine and feminine.

In 2012, Neuwirth in the image of Conchita Wurst participated in the national selection for Eurovision 2012, where he took second place, gaining 49% of the vote and only slightly losing to the hip-hop duo Trackshittaz (51%), which did not even get into the competition itself. the final.

In 2014, Austria still sent Conchita to the 59th Song Contest "Eurovision-2014" to Copenhagen. And on May 8, at the contest, Conchita Wurst with the song “Rise Like a Phoenix” (“Rise Like a Phoenix”) won first place in the second semi-final, gaining 169 points. On May 10, 2014, in the final of the competition, Conchita Wurst received 290 points and became the winner of Eurovision. Thus, Austria for the second time in its history became the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (the last time it was in 1966, when Udo Jürgens became the winner of the competition.

Conchita Wurst Eurovision 2014

The points obtained during the voting were formed by 50% from the points of the national jury and 50% from the points of the viewers. In the combined result, Conchita received the maximum 12 points from 13 countries at once - Belgium, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK.

A big lead over the participants from the Netherlands, who took second place, was obtained due to the SMS-voting of TV viewers.

After returning to Austria from Copenhagen, Conchita Wurst was greeted at the airport by hundreds of fans. Representatives of all political parties, with the exception of the right-wing Freedom Party, congratulated Frau Wurst on her victory. Leading politicians of the country - President Heinz Fischer and Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann personally congratulated the artist.

The Austrian victory was criticized by conservative politicians in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. It was called a sign of the decline, decline and degradation of Europe, propaganda of erasing the boundaries between men and women and cultural aggression. In Russia, many politicians also said that the image of Conchita Wurst is propaganda of homosexuality and moral decay.

In the summer of 2014, Conchita Wurst performed at gay pride events in London at Trafalgar Square, Madrid, Zurich, Stockholm, Antwerp. Conchita also took part in the show of the collection of fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, demonstrating a wedding dress. In addition, she took part in photography.

In October 2014, Conchita Wurst became the official advertising face of the largest Austrian bank, Bank Austria. In December 2014, the Austrian magazine "Profil" named Conchita Wurst "Person of the Year" along with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On May 15, 2015, the debut album "Conchita" was released, which, less than a week after the release, received platinum status in Austria. In March 2015 and March 2016, Conchita Wurst was awarded the Amadeus Austrian Music Award twice in a row in the "Artist of the Year" nomination. In April and May 2016, the first tour of Conchita Wurst took place in the cities of Austria, Germany and Switzerland.