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Måns Zelmerlöw

© EBU/Elena Volotova About Quick Facts NameMåns Petter Albert Sahlén Zelmerlöw Born13 June 1986 Nationality🇸🇪 Swedish National SelectionMelodifestivalen 2015Melodifestivalen 2008Melodifestivalen 2007 In Eurovision2015 Vienna SongHeroes (2015) Biography Måns Petter Albert Sahlén Zelmerlöw, born on June 13, 1986, in the Lund Cathedral Parish, Malmö County, is a Swedish presenter, musician, and songwriter.Måns Zelmerlöw attended a music-focused program at Lars-Erik Larsson Gymnasium in Lund, where he primarily focused on choir singing and later sang in the Lund University Male Voice Choir. In 2002, he participated in a production of the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, where he played one of Joseph’s eleven brothers. He competed in TV4’s Idol 2005 where he finished in fifth place. In 2006, he emerged as the winner of TV4’s “Let’s Dance” together with Maria Bild. In the second half of 2006, he played the lead role of Danny Zuko in the musical Grease, which was staged in Malmö. Zelmerlöw reached the final of Melodifestivalen, the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, in 2007 with the song “Cara Mia,” which finished in third place with the second-highest number of viewer votes. The song topped the Swedish sales chart. In 2007, he performed the song on TV programs such as Allsång på Skansen and Lotta på Liseberg. On October 5, 2007, he hosted Lilla Melodifestivalen (the Junior Melodifestivalen). At the same time, he appeared in the musical Footloose, where he played the villain Tommy. The musical premiered on November 8, 2007, at Storan in Gothenburg and was staged in Stockholm from February 20, 2008. In 2008, he participated in the Diggiloo Tour along with Lasse Holm, Linda Bengtzing, Lotta Engberg, Thomas Pettersson, Molly Sandén, Nanne Grönvall, Stefan and Kim, and Magnus Johansson. He participated again in Melodifestivalen 2009, this time with the song “Hope & Glory” (lyrics: Måns Zelmerlöw, Fredrik Kempe; music: Fredrik Kempe, Henrik Wikström). He advanced directly to the final at the Globe Arena, where he took the lead after the jury groups had voted. After the viewers’ votes were cast, Zelmerlöw finished in fourth place with 144 points. In 2009, he participated in the TV program Så ska det låta together with Lill Lindfors. He also performed in “Allsång på Skansen.” He hosted “Sommarkrysset” directly from Gröna Lund and went on The MZW Tour, which consisted of a five-member band and four dancers. The tour started in Västerås on June 26 and concluded on August 15, 2009, in Kristinestad. During the year, Zelmerlöw also performed at Crown Princess Victoria’s birthday, which was broadcast on Swedish Television on July 14, 2009. During the second semifinal of Dansbandskampen 2009, he served as a guest judge in the second round, where his songs were the evening’s theme. On November 10, 2009, it was announced that Zelmerlöw would be one of the three hosts of Melodifestivalen 2010. He co-hosted the show with Dolph Lundgren and Christine Meltzer. He also took on the role of Romeo in Romeo and Julia. In connection with Dansbandskampen 2010, he co-wrote a song with Peter Wennerberg for Elisa’s titled “Varenda veranda,” which the band also recorded for the album “Det här är bara början” in 2011. For Christmas 2010, Zelmerlöw released the solo album “Christmas with Friends.” On February 23, 2011, it was announced that he would be the new host of Allsång på Skansen. For Christmas, Zelmerlöw released the album “Kära vinter” (Dear Winter). Måns Zelmerlöw released the single “Ett lyckligt slut” in collaboration with the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation in 2012. The same year, he participated in the panel of opinions in SVT’s music program Inför Eurovision Song Contest. He was named “Årets Lundensare” (Lund Citizen of the Year) by the Grandiosa Society in Lund. For the third consecutive summer, he hosted Allsång på Skansen in 2013. However, during the final episode on August 13, he announced his intention to quit. Zelmerlöw participated as a songwriter in Melodifestivalen 2013 with the song “Hello Goodbye,” performed by Erik Segerstedt and Tone Damli, which advanced to the Second Chance round. In the fall of 2013, he played the lead role in a new version of the musical Spök (Ghost) alongside Loa Falkman, Sussie Eriksson, and Lena Philipsson, among others. In February 2014, he released the personal album “Barcelona Sessions,” which he had been working on for almost two years. Zelmerlöw competed in Melodifestivalen 2015 with the song “Heroes”, which he won, thus earning the opportunity to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Zelmerlöw won with 288 points, achieving the largest margin of victory (150 points) in Melodifestivalen history. In the Eurovision final on May 23, Zelmerlöw won with 365 points. During the summer of 2015, Måns Zelmerlöw made several appearances at music festivals in Sweden and Finland. Following that, he embarked on a European tour in September. Before the tour, he also visited Shanghai, China to promote his latest album, “Perfectly Damaged,”. In January 2016, Zelmerlöw traveled to Australia and surprised audiences by joining Guy Sebastian‘s Concert Tour, “You..Me..Us Tour,” as a guest artist. He performed with his band at two dates. In May 2016, Zelmerlöw co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm alongside Swedish TV presenter Petra Mede. During the three shows, he performed his winning song “Heroes,” as well as his new song “Fire in the Rain.” Additionally, he showcased two musical sketches, co-written with Edward af Sillén, titled “Story of ESC” and the highly acclaimed “Love, Love, Peace, Peace” with Petra Mede. In October 2016, Zelmerlöw appeared in the TV series “Chevaleresk” with host Alexander Wiberg, which was broadcast on TV6. In 2021, Zelmerlöw returned to Melodifestivalen as a host for the final together with Shima Niavarani and Christer Björkman. In the same year, he joined the Swedish edition of “The Masked Singer,” where he is part of the panel. In 2022, Zelmerlöv was one of the participants in TV4’s show Så mycket bättre (So Much Better). Entries Song Title Country🇸🇪 Sweden Year2015 LanguageEnglish LyricsAnton Malmberg Hård af SegerstadJoy DebLinnea Deb MusicAnton Malmberg Hård af SegerstadJoy

Alexander Rybak

© EBU/Thomas Hanses About Quick Facts NameAlexander Igorevich Rybak Born13 May 1986 Nationality🇳🇴 Norwegian National SelectionMelodi Grand Prix 2018Melodi Grand Prix 2009 In Eurovision2018 Lisbon2009 Moscow SongThat’s how you write a song (2018)Fairytale (2009) Biography Alexander Rybak, is a Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pianist and actor. He was born in Minsk, Belarus, in those days part of the Soviet Union. He played the violin and piano since he was five years old, but after a while he chose to concentrate on the violin. Alexander practiced violin with his father Igor Rybak until he was a teenager, when Alexander began studying at the Barratt Due Music Institute. During that time he played in the Vivaldi Orchestra, which was led by his father, and the Barrat Dues Junior Orchestra. From 2000 to 2003, Alexander was a student of violinist, conductor and educator Alf Richard Kraggerud, followed by study with Eileen Siegel, 3rd Concertmaster in the Oslo Philharmonic, and with Lena Rist-Larsen, violin educator and Norwegian master of accordion. He has also had lessons and masterclasses with many other great names. In the summer of 2002, Alexander received a scholarship in the form of a free course in New Jersey, where he studied under Stephen Shipps, and where he was selected to conduct a masterclass with Pinchas Zukerman. Alexander Rybak had participated in several Norwegian courses and festivals, such as “Valdres Sommersymfoni” and the international Hemsedal Festival for dancers and musicians, where Rybak participated as one of the musicians. He was a concertmaster during Halsnøy’s symphony project in the summer of 2004, and soloist with several good orchestras such as the Minsk Chamber Orchestra and the Kringkastingsorkesteret. He has toured in Chicago, Spain, Russia and Poland. In the same year he won Anders Jahre’s cultural award. In the fall of 2005, Rybak performed the violin concerto “Musica Avventurosa” by young composer Daniel Thornhill, together with the orchestra Ung Symphoni. Alexander Rybak participated in the tv-show Idol. In 2006, he won the talent contest Kjempesjansen. In 2007, Rybak debuted as an actor when he was the fiddler in Fiddler on the roof. In 2008, Alexander was featured on the children’s album “Magiske kroker & hemmeligheter”. In November 2008, Elisabeth Andreassen invited Rybak on a tour in 2009, with songs from “Bettans” record Spellemann, with music from both Norway and Sweden with inspiration from folk tones. In 2009, Alexander Rybak won Melodi Grand Prix 2009 with the song “Fairytale”. He was able to represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest and won the contest. “Fairytale” became a huge hit all over Europe. Shortly after the contest Rybak released the album “Fairytales”. Rybak was awarded the Musician of the Year award under the Spellemann Prisen 2009.In 2010, another album, “No boundaries” was released. Also a Russian version, “Nebesa Evrope”, was released. A year later, he hosted the tv show Allsang På Grensen and released an album entirely in Swedish: “Visa vid vindens änger”. In may 2012 he sang a duet and had a small tour with Paula Seling. In 2013 Rybak composed a song for Melodi Grand Prix called “I’m With You” sung by Annsofi Pettersen. In 2015, he composed “Still Here” for Franklin Calleja in the Maltese National Finals. He also composed a song for the Belarusian group Milki entitled “Accent”, which got 4th place in the national final. In the same year he released an album called “Trolle og den magiske fela” and a year later it was followed by “I came to love you”. In 2018, Rybak took part in Melodi Grand Prix again with the song “That’s how you write a song”. For the second time, Rybak was able to represent his country in the Eurovision Song Contest. Rybak won the semifinal, but ended up just in 15th place in the final.In 2019, Rybak’s children’s musical “Trolle og den magiske fela” premiered. The show sold over 10,000 tickets and had to schedule extra performances to curb the demand. In 2020, Rybak co-wrote an entry for Melodi Grand Prix 2020 with JOWST. Singer Magnus Bokn sang the song, which reached the Melodi Grand Prix final. Rybak started attending Columbia College Chicago online from his home in Norway in the fall of 2020. By August 2021, he had moved to Chicago to continue his studies in person. He graduated from Columbia in July 2022. He released a new single in that year, “Memories”. He teamed up with Annsofi Klevfoss to release a new single “No More Me And You” in February 2023, exactly 10 years after Annsofi presented Alexanders song in Melodi Grand Prix. Two months later, he released a solo song and video, “1000 views”. In September, his new song “Kid” was released. Meanwhile, Rybak told his fans that he had been stalked for a while by a woman. That happened for over an entire year. Entries That’s How You Write A Song Country🇳🇴 Norway Year2018 LanguageEnglish LyricsAlexander Rybak MusicAlexander Rybak BackingsLisa BørudLene Kokai FlageJens Jeffry TrinidadFrode VasselAlvaro Estrella Results Semi Points: 266Position: 1Running order: 1 Results Finals Points: 144Position: 15Running order: 7 https://youtu.be/N17BdRwOvBA Fairytale Country🇳🇴 Norway Year2009 LanguageEnglish LyricsAlexander Rybak MusicAlexander Rybak BackingsKarianne KjærnesJorunn HaugeSigbjørn RuaTorkjell BørsheimHallgrim Hansegård Results Semi Points: 266Position: 1Running order: 1 Results Finals Points: 144Position: 15Running order: 7 https://youtu.be/WXwgZL4zx9o