Ruslana

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Ruslana

Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko (Ukrainian: Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, Ruslana Stepanivna Lyžyčko; born May 24, 1973)[1] is a World Music award winning artist and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

Born in 1973, she is a singer, dancer, producer, composer, conductor, and pianist. She writes, composes and produces her own songs and music videos.

Ruslana started her career as a winner of Slavyanskiy Bazar song competition in 1996. Her first album, Myt' vesny (Мить весни, A Moment of Spring) received high praise from the critics. It was a relative success given the overall state of Ukrainian music market of that time. Still, wider recognition didn't come until 1998 with the song Svitanok (Sunrise) and the album Myt' Vesny - Dzvinkyj Viter Live. Svitanok was the first big video clip in Ukraine. In 1999 she worked on the Christmas musical Ostanne rizdvo 90th (The Last Christmas of the 90's), which won the Ukrainian Movie of the Year award. Her album Dyki Tantsi (Wild Dances) which was issued in 2003 went double platinum in Ukraine, selling over 200,000 copies. According to the latest sales results (as of 2005), over 500,000 of "Dyki Tantsi" were sold in Ukraine, making the album 5x platinum. [citation needed]

She won the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song Wild Dances, which earned 280 points, receiving points from 34 of the 35 other countries participating in the contest (the exception being Switzerland).

In 2004's disputed Ukrainian presidential elections, she declared her support for Viktor Yushchenko. She was one of the scores of prominent figures that addressed the mass crowds rallying in support of Yushchenko's demand that his original defeat be declared fraudulent. At one stage she was even quoted as saying she was ready to go on hunger strike for the cause.

In 2005, Ruslana appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Kyiv. She performed her new single Heart On Fire. The performance included her carrying a blow torch.

Since 2005 she is the National Ambassador of Ukraine with UNICEF.[1]

Ruslana designed the cover for Jonathan Safran Foer's "The Unabridged Pocket Book of Lightening" which was produced as part of Penguin Books' 70th birthday celebrations.

In March 2006, she was elected to parliament in Our Ukraine party list as № 5.[2]. On June 19, 2007 she terminated her mandate.[3]

She hosts the fictional radio station Vladivostok FM in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.

Biography

Early life

Ruslana was born on 24 May 1973 in Lviv, Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine) to Ukrainian parents Nina and Stepan Lyzhichko. She was raised in Lviv Oblast (province). She is married to Ukrainian record producer Oleksandr Ksenofontov.

Career

Znayu Ya (Знаю я)

Znayu Ya(I Know) is a work about the Ukrainian Carpathians, the first video clip filmed and arranged for demonstration in modern movie theaters. Personnel of 250 workers. 7 studios of 5 countries, 4 kilometers of video tape footage, sound by Dolby Digital 5.0 (licensed by Dolby Laboratories, London). Color by DigitalFilmFinland, Helsinki. Record-breaking high budget, lots of trick effects and technical equipment. Unique video shooting of Carpathian mountains from helicopter, numerous scenes in Mountains, video fragments of a true Hutsul wedding in ethnic costumes, incredible national color of Hutsul culture. Filming of a concert on a bandstand installed in the middle of a mountain waterfall. shooting of Ruslana on top of a rock (1600 meters above sea-level) with neither a dubbing actor nor assistance.

Dyki tantsi

December 2002 - Ruslana signed the contract with Comp Music/ EMI (majot label’s EMI’s licensee in Ukraine) and started the new record sessions for Dyki Tantsi right away. The English proffy[clarification needed] had shown interest in the music of the singer and Ruslana obtained the invitation to make mixing of the album at the British studio Real World which belongs to Peter Gabriel. The album was released on June 11th in 2003 in Ukraine. Dyki Tantsi – was the modern compilation of the ancient ethnic hutsul tunes (rhythms & dances) and new trends in in pop and rock music , is the fundamental ethnic rhythms together with ultra-contemporary styles.

October 3 2003 – Ruslana’s new album Dyki Tantsi reached the platinum status, that means that the official sales are 100’000 copies. Besides this result was reached during 100 days without the supporting tour! It was really historical event for Ukraine.

December 17 2003 was the day when Ruslana was awarded with Platinum CD prize for Dyki Tantsi. It was the first Ukrainian Prize Prize. Stefan Kravchek (regional director of international organization IFPI, Brussels) presented the award to Ruslana. The success of the album is not only the Ruslana’s victory but it is the challenge to the audio piracy in the country. It was the case when in August and September of 2003 the biggest quantity of different and numerous pirate copies of Dyki Tantsi CDs and Mp3s were registered. Сomp music/EMI together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the professional who deal with IFPI have accomplished the special actions in order to control and cease the expansion of counterfeit products.

Ruslana in the Eurovision Song Contest

2004

Ruslana was elected by NTU, using an internal selection, to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Before the contest she was a hot favorite for victory by the bookmakers. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 she performed her self-composed song, Wild Dances and won the contest receiving 280 points (the highest amount of points received by a winner of the Eurovision Song Contest from the first 50 editions of the contest). Also, she received points from every country in the semi final and from every country except Switzerland in the final. Wild Dances was number one in Belgium (for 10 consecutive weeks), Greece and Ukraine.

2005

File:Ruslana TheSameStar.png
Ruslana performing The Same Star at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Ruslana opened the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song Heart on Fire. At the interval act she performed The Same Star which became a hit as soon as it was released, entering most of the music charts all around Europe. The song Heart on Fire will be released on her new album Wild Energy.

2006

Ruslana's song Wild Dances was named the Best of Eurovision by the Germans. On the television program Grand Prix Hitliste, Wild Dances was presented as the winner, ahead of famous songs, such as Waterloo and Germany's only winner, Ein Bißchen Frieden, which finished sixth and twelfth, respectively. The program was viewed by a television audience of approximately six million people in Germany.[4]

2008

Ruslana was a guest performer at the national final of Azerbaijan with her Wild Energy show. Azerbaijan made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

Club'in

Wild Energy Project

Ruslana's new project takes us into a future city which experiences a global energy crisis, far more threatening than lack of oil and gas. The inhabitants of the synthetic city are lacking their will for life, their energy of the heart - the fuel for people. Wild Energy combines the art of music and video production, literature and social commitment in an extraordinary way and will cover the whole creative year of the singer. On June 15 2006, Ruslana presented her new single and video Wild Energy. These are the first single and video from Ruslana’s new project, based on the fiction novel by Maryna and Sergij Diachenko Wild Energy. Lana. The unique video in a fantasy style, which is a screen version of a part of the novel, set a new record in the field of musical video making by its scale and technologies. The singer herself appears in the new video in a rather unexpected image, as she is blonde. The first people to see and listen to Ruslana’s Wild Energy will be the Ukrainian mass media and the singer’s fan club members, who will attend the presentation as the special guests. In the autumn of 2006, Ruslana will be producing her new album, Wild Energy. Next day Ruslana went on a FIFA World Cup 2006 tour in Germany to support the Ukrainian national football team. She performed in Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig, and Nuremberg.

Discography

Ruslana discography
The CD single Wild Dances topped the Ultratop 50 chart for 10 weeks
Studio albums6
Music videos21
Singles5
Collaborations4

Studio Albums

Year Album
1998 "Myt' Vesny - Dzvinkyj Viter"
  • 1st studio album
2001 Najkrashche
  • 2nd studio album
2002 Dobrij vechir, tobi...
  • 3rd studio album
2003 Diki Tantsi
  • 4th studio album
2004 Wild Dances
  • 5th studio album
  • First album released after Eurovision victory
  • First English-language album
  • Contains several songs that were also included on "Diki Tantsi"
2008 Amazonka
  • 6th studio album
  • An English-language version was released as Wild Energy

Other Albums

Year Album
2000 "Ostanne rizdvo 90-x"
  • Christmas Album
2005 Club'in
  • Remix album
  • Mainly contains remixes of songs from "Wild Dances"

Singles

Soundtracks

Soundtracks containing Ruslana songs.

Music Videos

Tours

The following is a list of tours that Ruslana has made since the spring of 2004.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ruslana.

References

  1. ^ National ambassadors (UNICEF)
  2. ^ "People's Union Our Ukraine candidate list". Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006 website (in Ukrainian). Central Election Commission of Ukraine.
  3. ^ "Ruslana Lyzhychko". Deputies of Verkhovna Rada (in Ukrainian).
  4. ^ Busa, Alexandru (2007-07-04). "Ruslana - The best of Eurovision". esctoday]. Retrieved 2006-05-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Listening

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Preceded by Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
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 Best Ukrainian Act - World Music Awards
2004 		Succeeded by
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Preceded by Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
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