Stephan Eicher

Stephan Eicher (born 1960 in Münchenbuchsee, near Bern) is one of Switzerland’s best-loved singers. He broke through in the early 1980s with the new-wave band Grauzone and its hit “Eisbär”, before a solo career that made him known across Europe, singing by turns in French, German, Swiss German, English, Italian and Romansh. He is behind “Combien de temps”, “Déjeuner en paix” and “Oh Ironie”, often to lyrics by his friend the writer Philippe Djian. He has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival and, close by, at Cully Jazz, in the heart of the Lavaux vineyards where he dreamed up his floating stage, “Le radeau des inutiles”.

Stephan Eicher, from Grauzone to the Lavaux raft

A singer of every language

Born in 1960 in Münchenbuchsee, to an Alsatian mother and a Yenish father, Stephan Eicher trained at the Zurich art academy before breaking through in the early 1980s with the band Grauzone: their “Eisbär” became a classic of German-language new wave. Solo, he invented a song without language borders, moving from French to German, Swiss German, Italian or Romansh, sometimes within a single track. To lyrics by the writer Philippe Djian, he wrote some of the greatest hits of French-language song, “Déjeuner en paix” (1991) and “Combien de temps”.

At Montreux Jazz

The Riviera is part of his story. Stephan Eicher took the stages of the Montreux Jazz Festival as early as 11 July 1986, and returned, notably in 1996 for a “Stephan Eicher And Friends” concert at the Auditorium Stravinski. Between electronic pop and intimate song, his music found there the same curious, loyal audience as so many artists welcomed by Claude Nobs.

A Cully Jazz regular

But it is perhaps a few kilometres from Montreux, by the lake, that Stephan Eicher is most at home: at the Cully Jazz Festival, nestled in the vineyards of Lavaux. He is a regular there, taking the main marquee, notably with the trio of guitarist Roman Nowka. In 2026, he opens the festival’s 43rd edition, in an all-Swiss evening alongside Erika Stucky, Elina Duni and the Traktorkestar.

The raft of the useless, in the Lavaux vineyards

In June 2021, after long months without concerts, Stephan Eicher dreamed up a tiny stage to reconnect with audiences up close: “Le radeau des inutiles”, a wooden platform topped with a mast and a sail, like a boat run aground among the vines. He set it up at the Domaine Wannaz, in Chenaux, in the heart of Lavaux, facing Lake Geneva and the Alps. A few benches, an audience close by, the music within earshot: an intimate format, very much in the image of the region.