2016

Laura Tesoro

© EBU About Quick Facts NameLaura Tesoro Born19 August 1996 Nationality🇧🇪 Belgian National SelectionEurosong 2016 In Eurovision2016 Stockholm SongWhat’s the pressure (2016) Biography Laura Tesoro is a Belgian singer and actress, who was born in Antwerp. Tesoro is a child of an Italian father and a Belgian mother. Between 2009 and 2010 she went to the Royal Lyceum of Antwerp and then she went to the Pius X Institute, where she graduated in word art drama. In 2008 Tesoro came into the picture for the first time with a guest role in the tv-series Witse. That same year she was on stage for the first time as Annie in the musical of the same name. After that she took part in the musical program Ketnetpop at the end of 2009. In 2012 she made her appearance in the tv-series Familie. In 2014 she appeared in the third edition of The Voice van Vlaanderen, where she ended up as runner-up in the final. In the same year she stopped Familie and released her first single “Outta here” in August. This appeared at the end of August 2014 in 23rd place in the Flemish charts. Tesoro participated in Eurosong in 2016, the Belgian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. She won with the song “What’s the pressure” and thus representedBelgium at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. After the Eurovision song contest, she became a co-presenter of Belgium’s Got Talent in 2016 alongside Koen Wauters. She did so in 2021 for the fourth consecutive season. In 2017 she became one of the coaches in The Voice Kids and presented the program The Band on tv-channel VTM. Her single “Higher” was released in 2017. It was listed in the Flemish Ultratop 50 for 23 weeks. The single “Beast” was released at the end of October 2017 and a year later she released her single “Mutual” on November 30, 2018. “Up” followed in early 2019. In 2019 she was also one of the artists in “Love for Music”. Her debut album “Limits” was released later that year, of which the first single “Limits” was released earlier. A little later, the second single, “Press Pause”, was released, which became a major radio hit. In the meantime, she could also be seen in 2019 as the female lead actress Sarah in the musical “’40-’45” by Studio 100. The single “Hold On” was released in May 2020. “Strangers” was released in November 2020, a song she sang with Loïc Nottet. She co-hosted another show, 2 meisjes op het strand. In 2021 she was a jury member in The Voice van Vlaanderen. In 2022 she was a guest artist at I Can See Your Voice. In April 2022 she released the single “Not easy”, in October 2022 “We here”. In January 2023 she released the single “These Nights”, which she sang together with OSKI. As a voice actress, she could be heard in dubbings of several films. In 2016, for example, she voiced Moana in the Flemish version of the Disney film Moana and Princess Poppy in Trolls. In 2017 she could be heard as Rebel in the film The Emoji Movie and in 2018 she took on the role of Gwen Stacey in the Flemish version of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Entries What’s the Pressure Country🇧🇪 Belgium Year2016 LanguageEnglish LyricsSanne PutseysLouis FavreYannick Werther MusicSanne PutseysBirsen Uçar BackingsMelany BholaTanja DaeseLaurens HagensRebecca LouisKevin van der Meer Results Semi Points: 274Position: 3Running order: 18 Results Finals Points: 181Position: 10Running order: 1 https://youtu.be/xDBjhAGaeWg

Joci Pápai

© EBU/Thomas Hanses About Quick Facts NameJoci Pápai Born22 September 1981 Nationality???????? Hungarian National SelectionA Dal 2019A Dal 2017 In Eurovision2019 Tel Aviv2017 Kiev SongAz én apám (2019)Origo (2017) Biography József Pápai or Joci Pápai is a Hungarian singer, voice actor, rapper and guitarist of Romani descent. Joci Pápai made his television debut in 2005 in the second season of TV2’s talent show Megasztár. He released his debut album after the talent show. His first big success was the song “Ne nézz így rám”. Since 2006, he has contributed to Hungarian rapper Majka’s music in several joint recordings (Nélküled, Nekem ez jár), but the greatest success was in 2015, “Mikor a test örexik”. Joci then performed another solo song, “Elrejtett világ”. Most recently, he also co-starred with Majka with a lightweight pop-funk song titled “Senki más”. In 2017, Joci Pápai participated in A Dal, the Hungarian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. His song “Origo” won the contest and reached the 8th place in the Eurovision final. Joci Pápai finished third in the fifth season of TV2’s Sztárban sztár, the Hungarian version of Your Voice Looks Familiar. In 2019, Pápai took part in A Dal again. With his song “Az én apám” he won A Dal for a second time. In the Eurovision Song Contest however, he did not reach the final with his song. After the Eurovision Song Contest, Pápai released several singles. Among others, he teamed up with BLR (“Suttogd halkan”, 2020), Lotfi Begi (“Kicsit őrült”, 2021) and Gabi Tóth (“Meg volt írva, 2022). Entries Az Én Apám Country???????? Hungary Year2019 LanguageHungarian LyricsFerenc Molnár MusicJózsef PápaiFerenc Molnár Backings Ferenc Feng Ya OuPetra Katona Results Semi Points: 97Position: 12Running order: 7 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/IpVr0pBLfI4 Origo Country???????? Hungary Year2017 LanguageHungarianRomani LyricsJózsef Pápai MusicJózsef Pápai BackingsAlexandra VirágEmese Kapcsos Results Semi Points: 231Position: 2Running order: 7 Results Finals Points: 200Position: 8Running order: 8 https://youtu.be/hqM0AkP7zcI

Serhat

© EBU/Thomas Hanses About Quick Facts NameAhmet Serhat Hacıpaşalıoğlu Born24 October 1964 Nationality🇹🇷 Turkish National SelectionInternal selection 2019Internal selection 2016 In Eurovision2019 Tel Aviv2016 Stockholm SongSay na na na (2019)I didn’t know (2016) Biography Serhat is a Turkish singer, songwriter, composer, producer and television presenter. He was born in Istanbul. He originally studied dentistry, but his career in showbusiness started when he established a production company in 1994. He produced the show Riziko!, a Turkish version of the American show Jeopardy!. He hosted the show himself and received several awards for it. While keeping on hosting shows, Serhat began a career in music as well in 1997. That was the year he released his debut single “Rüya”. He sang a duet with Viktor Lazlo in 2005, “Total disguise”, and with Tamara Gverdtstiteli in 2008. It took him until 2014 to release a new single, “Je m’adore”. Serhat’s working field had now changed to France and Germany. The song topped several dance charts in Germany, France, the UK and Switzerland. In 2016, Serhat represented San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “I didn’t know”. Although he did not reach the final, a disco version of the song reached the US dance charts. In 2018, Serhat re-released “Total disguise”, but now in duet with Helena Paparizou. In 2019, Serhat represented San Marino again with the song “Say na na na”. The song became the best scoring song for San Marino so far. In October 2020, the Spanish version of the song, “Di Na Na Na”, with Spanish lyrics by Adolfo Caiman, was released in a music video. In 2023, Serhat co-wrote the song “Unsaid” together with Jens Geerts. It was released on single by Belgian singer Els Deschepper. Entries Say Na Na Na Country🇸🇲 San Marino Year2019 LanguageEnglishTurkish LyricsSerhat HacıpaşalıoğluMary Susan Applegate MusicSerhat Hacıpaşalıoğlu BackingsGiulia WahnChantal HartmannInès Schubert DancersJohan D. SeilSebastián Millepied Results Semi Points: 150Position: 8Running order: 17 Results Finals Points: 77Position: 19Running order: 7 https://youtu.be/d_iEis_ZRoQ I didn’t know Country🇸🇲 San Marino Year2016 LanguageEnglish LyricsNektarios Tyrakis MusicOlcayto Ahmet Tuğsuz BackingsCaroline HauwelEllia PalazziEmilie WeberJessica FagniotOphelie Crispin Results Semi Points: 12Position: 68Running order: 8 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/HzPkDb2FSeg

Sergey Lazarev

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameSergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev Born01 April 1983 Nationality🇷🇺 Russian National SelectionInternal selection 2019Internal selection 2016Evrovidenie 2008 In Eurovision2019 Tel Aviv2016 Stockholm SongScream (2019)You are the only one (2016) Biography Sergey Lazarev is a Russian singer and actor, born in Moscow. When he was 9 Sergey sang in an ensemble with his brother Paul, doing that for two years. At the same time he played in the theater of Boris Pokrovsky. In 1995, he became one of the participants in the Neposedy children’s ensemble. This ensemble performed in several television shows. In the same year, he starred in a sitcom.In 2001, Sergey Lazarev and Vlad Topalov formed the musical project Smash!!. The idea to make their own duet project came to the guys during their work in the Neposedy ensemble. At first, their manager was Simon Naper Bell, who was previously the manager of Wham!. In August 2002, they won the New Wave contest in Jurmala. Their first video “Belle”, lasted on the top of the MTV charts for six months. At the same time, Lazarev took part in the play “Romeo and Juliet”. In February of that year, Smash!! released a debut album, which almost instantly acquired the status of gold. In 2004, the second and last album of Smash!! was released. At the end of that year Sergey Lazarev left the group and began a solo career. He also returned to the Pushkin Theater to participate in the play “Odolzhite tenora!”.Sergey’s debut album as a solo singer,”Don’t Be Fake”, was released. At the end of 2005, Lazarev won two theater awards. In 2006, he was nominated for best artist at the MTV Russia Awards. In May 2007, Lazarev’s second album was released. Sergey dubbed several films. In 2008, he participated in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. The song “Flyer” reached the 4th place. In March 2010, Sergey Lazarev signed a contract with the music company Sony Music Entertainment. March 31 of the same year, he released a new album that received the status of gold in June 2011. In December 2012, Sergey’s fourth studio album, called “Lazarev.”, Was released. Soon it became the best-selling in Russia, and in March 2013 it acquired the status of a golden disc. In April 2014, the Pushkin Theater premiered the play “Zhenit’ba Figaro” which became the third major role for Lazarev in this theatre. In December 2014, he released the video album “Shou Lazarev: Live in Moscow”. In 2015, Sergey Lazarev became the host of the project of Channel One, “Tantsuy!”, And also released a new single, “Eto vso ona”.In honor of the 10th anniversary of his solo career on April 1, 2015, Sergey Lazarev released a collection of his best songs in Russian, The Best (Russian Edition).In 2016, Sergey Lazarev represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “You’re the only one”. Being one of the top favourites to win the contest, he became third in the end. In December 2017, Lazarev presented his fifth studio album “V episentr”, which was his first album entirely in Russian. The album immediately topped the Russian iTunes chart, becoming platinum on the basis of sales. The album received the Muz-TV award as the best album of the year. A few months later, the next album, “The One”, was released. This album also topped the Russian iTunes chart and received the same Muz-TV award. In support of both albums, Lazarev organized a new concert program “N-Tour”, named after his son Nikita. In 2019, Sergey represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest again. This time, the song was called “Scream”. And again, he reached a third place. In August of the same year, Lazarev presented his first mini-album “Ya ne boyus”, consisting of eight songs. The disc once again topped the Russian iTunes chart. In November 2019, a new album called “Eto ya” was released. Already two hours after the release, the album hit the second place in the Russian iTunes chart, and by the morning it had risen to the first. The album also topped the iTunes chart in Greece and Estonia. On April 29, 2020, the single “Posledniy den’ Pompeii” was released. On November 26, 2021, the eighth album was released under the name “8” (on the cover instead of a number there is an infinity sign), which included eight songs, including a cover version of Dima Bilan’s song “Mechtateli”. Previously, the songs “Ne odinochki”, “Ya ne mogu molchat” and “Aroma” were released as singles. In February 2022, he spoke out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling for a swift peaceful resolution to the conflict. However, later on, he began adopting a pro-war stance, spreading narratives aligned with pro-Kremlin propaganda. In May 2022, it became known that Lazarev had started providing humanitarian aid to the children affected by the conflict in Donbass. On June 1 of the same year, he criticized the boycott of Russian culture worldwide in his Telegram channel. Alongside other artists from the Russian music industry, he performed the song “Vstanem” by SHAMAN in a music video released on November 4, the Day of People’s Unity. On January 7, 2023, he was included in Ukraine’s sanction lists against individuals “who publicly call for aggressive war, justify and acknowledge the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and the temporary occupation of Ukrainian territory.” These sanctions involve asset freezes, complete cessation of commercial operations, and the halt of economic and financial obligations. Entries Scream Country🇷🇺 Russia Year2019 LanguageEnglish LyricsSharon VaughnDimitris Kontopoulos MusicPhilipp KirkorovDimitris Kontopoulos BackingsAdam SvenssonJennie JahnsMarie SjöströmErik SegerstedtSimon Lingmerth Results Semi Points: 217Position: 6Running order: 13 Results Finals Points: 370Position: 3Running order: 5 https://youtu.be/eNzlxEZ_JG4 You are the only one Country🇷🇺 Russia Year2016 LanguageEnglish LyricsJohn BallardRalph Charlie MusicPhilipp KirkorovDimitris Kontopoulos BackingsJennie JahnsAlvaro EstrellaJohan D. Seil DancersDaniel GillAdam Svensson Results Semi Points: 342Position: 1Running order: 9 Results Finals Points: 491Position: 3Running order: 18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e94dst20C9Y