Alice and Ellen Kessler, the identical twin pop singers who rose to fame in Europe during the 1960s, have died together in a joint assisted death at their home in Grünwald, near Munich. They were 89.
The sisters, known for their glamorous performances in Italy, chose to end their lives on Monday with the help of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanes Sterben (DGHS), a Berlin-based assisted dying association. A spokesperson confirmed that the twins administered life-ending drugs in the presence of a physician and a lawyer, who then notified the police. The decision was described as long-planned and well thought through, with no mental health issues involved.
In an interview last year with Italy's Corriere della Sera, the sisters expressed their wish to 'leave together, on the same day', citing the difficulty of bearing the loss of one before the other. They also told German newspaper Bild that they wanted their ashes placed in the same urn and buried alongside their mother and dog.
Born in 1936 in Nerchau, the Kesslers began as child ballet dancers with the Leipzig Opera. After fleeing East Germany for Düsseldorf at age 16, their singing and dancing career took off. They represented West Germany in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing eighth, and later performed at The Lido in Paris, where they met Elvis Presley. In 1961, they moved to Italy, where they became icons of talent and female independence, despite controversy over their bare legs on television.
The sisters never married, having made a pact influenced by their mother's unhappy marriage. They lived together in Rome until 1986, then moved back to Germany. In interviews, they emphasised their independence, stating they had been feminists from a young age, earning their own living from 15.
