Bulgaria

Sofi Marinova

About Quick Facts NameSofiya Marinova Kamenova Born05 December 1975 Nationality🇧🇬 Bulgarian National SelectionBŭlgarskata pesen v „Evroviziya 2012”Bŭlgarskata pesen v „Evroviziya 2007”Bŭlgarskata pesen v „Evroviziya 2005” In Eurovision2012 Baku SongLove Unlimited (2012) Biography Sofi Marinova, born on December 5, 1975, in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a distinguished singer known for her remarkable vocal talent and diverse musical style. Her journey in the music industry, marked by notable achievements and participation in significant events like the Eurovision Song Contest, reflects her dedication and versatility as an artist. Raised in the village of Brusen, Marinova’s musical inclination was evident from an early age, nurtured by her mother’s guidance in music and dance. Her talent drew the attention of local orchestra musicians in her teenage years, leading her to embark on a singing career despite her father’s initial reservations. Marinova’s repertoire, encompassing hits by Dragana Mirkovic, Michael Jackson, Sandra, Whitney Houston, and traditional Gypsy songs, showcases her versatility. At 17, she won a Romani music festival in Osikovitsa with the Gypsy song “Ochite mi mnogo plachat” and later secured first place at a Stara Zagora festival with “Stari rani” and “Slŭnchice moe”. Her professional career began with Ara Audio-Video, collaborating with Super Express on the album “Stari rani”. Solo albums followed, including “Edinstven moĭ” and “Moyat sŭn”. She later recorded an entire album with Super Express, “Pesni ot sŭrtse”, initially intended to feature only four of her songs. Marinova continued to release successful albums like “5 oktavi lyubov”, “Obicham”, “Ostani”, “Vreme Spi”, “Vip”, and “Sophie Marinova” with Sunny Music, where she also worked with rapper Ustata. Her accolades are numerous, including “singer of the year” at Nov Folk magazine’s first awards. She won at the Golden Mustang in 1999 with “Protegni luke” and at the Erato Festival with “Moyat sun”, evidencing her appeal across different cultures. A pivotal moment in her career was her participation in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, representing Bulgaria with the song “Love Unlimited”. Although she didn’t advance to the finals, her performance brought her international recognition and showcased her unique blend of pop, folk, and Roma music on a grand stage. Beyond music, Marinova has been active in television, participating in shows like VIP Brother (2009) and Kato dve kapki voda (2018, 2021). She was also a jury member on Zvezdite v nas in 2022. Entries Love Unlimited Country🇧🇬 Bulgaria Year2012 LanguageBulgarian LyricsDonka Vasileva MusicKrum GeoprievIasen Kozev Backings– Results Semi Points: 45Position: 11Running order: 8 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/WAUAETPcFBI?si=EZBVbKUdr7O3ibgJ

EQUINOX

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts MembersZhana BergendorffGeorgi SimeonovVlado MihailovTrey CampbellJohnny Manuel Active2018 Nationality???????? Bulgarian (Zhana, Georgi, Vlado)???????? American (Trey, Johnny) National SelectionInternal selection 2018 In Eurovision2018 Lisbon SongBones (2018) Biography Equinox was a Bulgarian band, established to represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest. The name “Equinox” comes from the term equinox, which means the moments of the year when day and night are approximately the same duration throughout our planet. These days are celebrated all over the world and are important to all major religions. Zhanna Bergendorf was born on October 20, 1985 in Sofia. She starts singing when she is 7 years old. When she was 18, she went to sing in South Korea. She remained there until 2010, after which she moved to Denmark. She participated in the X Factor Denmark. She became famous for winning the X Factor Bulgaria in 2013. She had a lot of hits in Bulgaria and won several important prizes in Bulgaria. Georgi Simeonov, known as JJ, is a singer, songwriter and vocal producer. He made his debut in the popular Bulgarian boy band 032 at the age of 16. In 2013, he began his solo career and released the songs “Better I Understood” and “Dealer of Love.” In 2009 he started teaching pop, soul and RnB, leading master classes in Sofia and Plovdiv. He works as a vocal producer for some of the biggest musicians in Bulgaria. He participated in the X Factor Romania. Vladimir Mihailov is a Bulgarian singer, songwriter, artist and vocalist of the famous bands Sappho and Slang. Prior to joining Equinox, he was a backing vocalist for Christian Kostov. As an artist, he has starred in three of the biggest Bulgarian films of 2017 – “Vŭzvishenie”, “Benzin i Nokaut”, and “Vsichko, koeto tya napisa”. He composed songs for many Bulgarian artists. He has been invited to play a leading role in the Bulgarian production of the musical “Mamma Mia”. He has worked as a voice actor in animated films such as “Frozen”, “Tangled” and “The Muppets”. Johnny Manuel comes from Flint, USA. Johnny has been a performer since his childhood, touring with ‘N Sync at the age of 14. In 2017 he took part in “America’s Got Talent”. His Withney Houston performance went viral on the internet. After “America’s Got Talent,” he released two singles, “Come Alive” and “Blind Faith,” and began working on his debut album with Symphonics International. Trey Campbell is a songwriter from Los Angeles, one of the composers of “Bones”, a major contributor to Equinox. Trey has written music for artists such as Dua Lipa, Bebe Rexha, Norwegian singer Julie Bergan, and Romanian Alexandra Stan. In 2019, he was a backing vocal in the Eurovision Song Contest for Azerbaijani participant Chingiz Mustafayev. As a group, Equinox represented Bulgaria in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Bones”. Entries Bones Country???????? Bulgaria Year2018 LanguageEnglish LyricsBorislav MilanovTrey CampbellJoacim PerssonDag Lundberg MusicBorislav MilanovTrey CampbellJoacim PerssonDag Lundberg BackingsMaria Georgieva Results Semi Points: 177Position: 7Running order: 10 Results Finals Points: 166Position: 14Running order: 18 https://youtu.be/vC-1tdGDFQc

Kristian Kostov

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameKristian Konstantinov Kostov Born15 March 2000 Nationality🇷🇺 Russian National SelectionInternal selection 2017 In Eurovision2017 Kyiv SongBeautiful mess (2017) Biography Kristian Kostov is a Russian/Bulgarian singer. Kristian Kostov was born in Moscow. His mother, Zaure, is Kazakh, and his father, Konstantin Kostov, is Bulgarian. From early childhood, Kristian was interested in music, and his parents decided to send him to the Neposedy studio. In 2006, he was cast in the Neposedy group and began his studies there . In the same year, he performed at the Kremlin together with Yulia Nachalova, participated in numerous concerts at various venues in Moscow. Together with the group he went on tour in Russia and abroad. Neposedy repeatedly participated in various competitions. In 2009 they opened Eurovision in Moscow. In 2011, Kostov won the Grand Prix at the international children’s competition “Sound Kids”. In 2012 he became a resident of the production center Jazz Parking. Kostov also represented Bulgaria at the Children’s New Wave 2012, where he took seventh place. In October of the same year, he was invited to become a member of the new children’s television project “Shkola muzyki” by Lina Arifulina, where he took the third place. At the age of 13, Kristian took part in the Russian television project Golos. Deti (The Voice Kids), where he reached the final. In 2014, as part of the combined choir “Deti Zeml” (which united the Open Kids group, students of the school-studio “Respublika KIDS”, Sofia Tarasova and other famous children) recorded the song “Mir bez voyny”. In the summer of 2015, at the age of 15, Kristian Kostov took part in the 4th season of the X-Factor Bulgaria. He was the youngest participant in the fourth season. Kristian reached the 2nd place in the contest. In 2016, Kostov signed a contract with the Bulgarian music label Virginia Record. On October 7, 2016, he released his debut single with the song “Ne si za men” (“Not for me”). For two weeks the song was at the top of the national hitparade of the most frequently aired Bulgarian songs on radio and television. In addition, as a guest artist, Kristian Kostov recorded the song “Vdigam Level” (“Leveling Up”) with the duo Pavell & Venci Venc’, which spent 14 consecutive weeks at the top of the same hitparade. Later, on January 13, 2017, “You Got Me Girl” was released – the English version of the song “Ne si za men”. On March 13, 2017, it was officially announced that Kristian Kostov would represent Bulgaria at Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv in May. Kostov performed the song “Beautiful Mess”. He took 2nd place, which was a record for Bulgaria in the entire history of performances at the competition. At the beginning of 2019, he participated in the Chinese Singer Professional Singer Television Competition, but did not reach the finals. At 18, Kostov became the youngest participant in this show. On March 15, 2019, the EP album “Prologue” was released on Chinese music platforms. It consists of five songs: two covers of famous Chinese songs, “Beautiful mess” (Inspired by China), “Live it up” with Chinese singer Tifa Chen, and an instrumental version of “Live it up”. The album was ranked among the top ten albums by Western artists of 2019 on the Chinese music platform QQ. In February 2020, the single “Honest” was released. On 10 July of the same year, his EP “Mood” came out, followed by the music video “Thinking” on 8 August. In January 2021. the project VOSTOK released an EP on all the Chinese platforms: “Time”. Kristian released several songs, but a music video came out in August 2022: “Intentional”. Entries Beautiful Mess Country🇧🇬 Bulgaria Year2017 LanguageEnglish LyricsBorislav MilanovSebastian ArmanJoacim Bo PerssonAlex OmarAlexander V. Blay MusicBorislav MilanovSebastian ArmanJoacim Bo PerssonAlex OmarAlexander V. Blay BackingsVlado MihailovCesár SampsonBorislav Borisov Dimitrov Results Semi Points: 403Position: 1Running order: 15 Results Finals Points: 615Position: 2Running order: 25 https://youtu.be/OMmm-G078LM