Female dancer

Darude

© EBU/Thomas Hanses About Quick Facts NameTone-Ville Henrik Virtanen Born17 July 1975 Nationality???????? Finnish National SelectionUuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2019 In Eurovision2019 Tel Aviv SongLook away (2019, with Sebastian Rejman) Biography Darude (real name Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen is a Finnish DJ and composer. He was born in Eura, in the Southwestern part of Finland. Virtanen started his career when attending highschoo. He was enthusiastic about making music at the computer at the time. He played the song “Rude Boy” by Swedish eurodance artist Leila K four times at a school party. He then began to be playfully called Rude Boy. Rude Boy later changed to Da Rude, who eventually became Darude. Darude eagerly pursued his career and in 1997 his demos were played on some radio stations. His songs were also available for download on MP3.com. In 1999, he made a demo of “Sandstorm” for his producer Jaakko Salovaara (JS16). Darude signed a record deal with Salovaara’s 16 Inch Records and “Sandstorm” was released as a single shortly thereafter. The track proved to be a big hit around the world. In addition to Finland, the song did particularly well in the United Kingdom. In Finland, the single sold platinum and remained on Finland’s official singles chart for 42 (!!) weeks. “Sandstorm” sold 2 million units worldwide. By March 2015, more than three million units had been sold. Darude’s debut album “Before the Storm” sold 800,000 copies worldwide. The album’s second single, “Feel the Beat”, was a great success. In 2001 Darude had a tour, the “Before the Storm: Australian Tour Edition”. “Before the Storm Special Edition” was released in 2002, which included remixes of the original songs as well. In 2003, Darude’s second studio album, “Rush”, was released. The album contained the singles “Music” and “Next to You”. Darude’s third studio album “Label This!” was released in October 2007. It contained the hit singles “Tell Me” as well as “My Game”.Darude co-founded the record label EnMass Music in 2011. With that label, he released a DJ Mix compilation called “Salmiakki Seasons Vol. 1”. Darude kept on touring and playing in clubs. On August 14, 2015, Darude released a new studio album, Moments, from which the single “Beautiful Alien” was released on March 20. Together with singer-actor Sebastian Rejman, Darude represented Finland at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel with the song “Look away”. The song became last in the first semifinal. Darude reported on the TV show Villa Hintikka in January 2020 that one of his ears has become deaf due to illness. Entries Look Away (with Sebastian Rejman) Country???????? Finland Year2019 LanguageEnglish LyricsSebastian RejmanVille Virtanen MusicSebastian RejmanVille Virtanen BackingsPetri SomerMatti LeinoHeini IkonenEtel Röhr Results Semi Points: 23Position: 17Running order: 3 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/VSPhIwOJfRs

Julia Samoylova

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameYuliya Olegovna Samoylova Born07 April 1989 Nationality???????? Russian National SelectionInternal selection 2018Internal selection 2017 In Eurovision2018 Lisbon SongI won’t break (2018) Biography Yuliya Samoylova is a Russian singer and songwriter. She was born in Ukhta, Russia, Soviet Union. At age 13, she was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. She moves in a wheelchair.From an early age, Samoilova participated in various competitions. At the age of fourteen, she won the music festival Na kryl’yakh mechty. In 2005, she participated in the Schlager competition in Yekaterinburg, where she took the 2nd place. In 2008, she founded the group TerraNova, which existed until 2010. In November 2012, she participated in the third season of Factor A, a casting show. On February 7, 2014, in Sochi, at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Winter Games, she performed the song “Vmeste”. In the same year, she was able to release three singles, one of which was a duet with Gosha Kutsenko. At the end of 2016, she participated in the recording of the song and the video “#ZHIT’” along with such performers as Polina Gagarina, Grigory Leps, Timati and Mot. Also in December 2016, another duet with Gosha Kutsenko was recorded – “Ne smotri nazad”. In 2017 she was chosen to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Flame is burning”. However, she performed in Crimea in 2015, which made the Ukrainian authorities decide she was not allowed to enter the country, not making an exception for Eurovision. She did go to Eurovision in the end, but she had to wait a year. In 2018, she represented Russia with the song “I won’t break”. In the same year, she won a Russian Music Box Award. On April 27, 2021, the EP “Belaya liliya” was released in Russian and Ukrainian, followed in October of the same year by the single “Storm”. Entries I Won’t Break Country???????? Russia Year2018 LanguageEnglish LyricsLeonid GutkinNetta NimrodiArie Burshtein MusicLeonid GutkinNetta NimrodiArie Burshtein BackingsArie BurshteinKsenia KorobkovaNetta NimrodiIldar GainutdinovAnastasiya Dzhurkina Results Semi Points: 65Position: 15Running order: 6 Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/KujGHwyfMWM

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