2008 Archives - Eurovision Universe

Samir Javadzadeh

About Quick Facts NameSamir Cavadzadə Born16 April 1980 Nationality🇦🇿 Azerbaijani National SelectionLand Of Fire 2008 In Eurovision2008 Belgrade SongDay After Day (with Elnur Hüseynov 2008) Biography Samir Javadzadeh (born April 16, 1980, Baku) is an Azerbaijani singer. He started his musical education at a young age. In 1992, he began studying at Music School No. 9. He is considered a performer of Azerbaijani folk music. In 1997, he enrolled in the “Foreign Relations” faculty of the Business University. After graduating from the institute, he studied mugham (traditional Azerbaijani music) for 5 years. After one year of military service, he joined the group Sheron. In 2006, he left the group and started his solo career. In 2008, Samir Javadzadeh participated in the national selection to represent Azerbaijan for the first time in the Eurovision Song Contest. In the national final he performed the song “Day After Day” as a duet with Elnur Hüseynov. After the jury’s vote, they won. At the Eurovision Song Contest itself, Elnur and Samir reached the 8th place in the Grand Final. The single “Day After Day” gained popularity in many foreign countries, and the music video remained at the top of the charts in Azerbaijan for a long time. In July, Samir appeared in a commercial for the Neolit restaurant alongside Elnur and other singers. Later, he performed the legendary “Cheri Cheri Lady” song of Modern Talking together with Elnur Huseynov. However, due to rumors circulating about him, he took a long break from the spotlight and rested. His first songs as a solo singer were with the songs “Bəlkə” (mən bəlkə sən) and “Mənim üçün yox” .His performance of the song “Deyin ona” with Röya became a hit in Azerbaijan for a long time. After his participation in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Samir Javadzadeh took a break from the spotlight. In 2010, Samir wrote and returned to the stage with the songs “Səninlə Birlikdə” (Quci, quci), “İnsafsızlar” (composed by Ramal Israfilov), “Təkcə Sənə Bağlanıb Qəlbim (Son görüş),” and “Bu da Son.” In January 2011, it was announced that his producer planned his first solo concert, but it was later announced that the concert would take place at the end of the year. In November 2017, he released a new single, with the title “Şəhər darıxır bizsiz.” After a long hiatus, on February 13, 2019, he released the music video for the song “Sev Məni,” which quickly surpassed 2 million views. The song reached the no.1 spot in the MTV Azerbaijan charts. On 19 February 2022, he released the song “Son görüş”, a song of Ranar Musayev. Entries Day After Day (Elnur & Samir) Country🇦🇿 Azerbaijani Year2008 LanguageEnglish LyricsZahra Bədəlbəyli MusicGovher Hasanzadə BackingsNames of the 2 dancers and 2 backing singers are unknown. Results Semi Points: 96Position: 6Running order: 7 Results Finals Points: 132Position: 8Running order: 20 https://youtu.be/6OGVL_9P5fw

After the Eurovision fame: Dima Bilan

Dima Bilan won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest for Russia. Early life Dima Bilan was born as Victor Belan on December 24, 1981. He was born in Ust-Dzheguta, in the Autonomous Soviet Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia. He took part in several music competitions. For example, he won the “Young Voices of the Caucasus” competition. His first performance on television was in 1995, also in a talent show. In 1998, when he was 16 years old, he went to Moscow to participate in the Chunga-Changa festival, where the chairman of the jury gave him a diploma. He chose ‘Dima Bilan’ as his stage name; Dmitriy was his grandfather’s name. So Dima is a tribute to him. Breakthrough and first two albums Once he lived in Moscow, Dima began to record his first songs. The video of his debut single “Osen” became a success. The video was shot in the Gulf of Finland. At the time, under the pseudonym Dima Belan, he was regularly seen on MTV Russia.Although he studied to become an opera singer, he dreamed of a career as a pop singer. The dream came true when a classmate introduced him to producer Yuri Aizenshpis. His first real big success came in 2002, when he took fourth place in the New Wave festival. A new single and video, “Boom”, followed and in 2003 there was Dima Bilan’s debut album “Ya nochnoy huligan”. Television appearances followed, and his single “Na beregu neba” reached number 2 in the Russian charts. The album with the same name went gold in 2004. It became one of the best-selling albums of 2004 in Russia. First steps in the field of Eurovision After this success, producer Aizenshpis registered Bilan to participate in the national final of the Eurovision Song Contest. He sang in English: “Not that simple”. Although he was close, Dima Bilan didn’t win the ticket to the Eurovision song contest in Kiev. He did, however, have a hit with the song. The Russian version “”Ty dolzhna ryadom byt’” became one of the biggest hits of 2005. Several other hits followed. When Yuri Aizenshpis passed away in late 2005, producers lined up to take Dima under their wing, eventually Yana became Rudkovskaya his new producer. That caused another problem with his name, because it was officially owned by Aizenshpis’ company. When this conflict was resolved, Dima decided to officially register under the name Dima Bilan. Eurovision 2006In 2006, the Russian broadcaster wanted to be sure that Dima Bilan would represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest. They decided to single him out without a national final. His song “Never let you go” did very well: a second place was awarded to him. Never had a Russian candidate finished higher. He subsequently represented Russia at the MTV Europe Awards and won an Award as best-selling Russian singer at the World Music Awards. Winning the Eurovision Song Contest In 2007, Dima Bilan recorded an English-language album with the famous producers Jim Beanz and Ryan Tedder. Again, he won awards at the MTV Russia Award. In 2008 a new Russian album was released. He also took part in the national final for the Eurovision song contest again. During the contest in Belgrade he sang “Believe”. The song was co-written by Jim Beanz. Dima was accompanied by Hungarian violinist Edvin Barton and Olympic figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko. Dima Bilan managed to win the Eurovision Song Contest. No return to Eurovision The album “Believe” soon followed. In 2010, Dima Bilan had a song ready to participate in the Eurovision song contest: “White nights”. However, he decided not to. Joining again two years later would be too soon, according to Bilan. In that year he did play the lead role in a short film. In 2011, he released another new Russian album. The return to the song contest came in 2012: in duet with Yulia Volkova (known from t.A.T.u.), “Back to her future”. Despite their favorite role, they did not win but had to make do with second place. The Voice After the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, Dima Bilan released four more studio albums. He was also a coach in several seasons of the Russian version of The Voice. He was in the chair in seasons 1 through 3, in seasons 5 and 6, and will soon be seen again in season 10. He also coached the first four seasons of The Voice Kids in Russia.

Elnur Hüseynov

© EBU/Elena Volotova About Quick Facts NameElnur Hüseynov Born03 March 1987 Nationality🇦🇿 Azerbaijani National SelectionInternal selection 2015Land of Fire 2008 In Eurovision2015 Vienna2008 Belgrade SongHour of the wolf (2015)Day after day (Elnur & Samir) Biography Elnur Hüseynov is an Azerbaijani singer. He was born on March 3, 1987, in Ashgabat. In 1992, he entered the ROXMIM for gifted children alongside the Turkmenistan Conservatory, where he received education in piano class. In 1999, Elnur Hüseynov came to Baku and was admitted to the Dental Technical Specialty of the Medical School in 2000. However, in 2001, he left the medical school and joined the Asaf Zeynalli Music School. Elnur worked at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theater for a while. After graduating from the Music School in 2004, he learned the profession of stylist-barber. In the early years, in 2003, Elnur participated for the second time in the Sing Your Song project. He won the grand prize. This was his first success in his career. In 2005, he recorded the song “Besdir” with the group Prestij, written by Eldar Mansurov. Later, a music video was made for this song. In late 2007, Elnur performed at the Lighting Azerbaijan international concert program in the assembly hall of the Kiev President Hotel in Ukraine. In 2008, Elnur Hüseynov participated in the national selection to represent Azerbaijan for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest. Elnur performed the song “If You Never Back,”. Later, he performed the song “Day After Day” in a duet with Samir Javadzadeh. After the jury’s voting, it was announced that they had won the duet category with Samir. At the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, they were the first ever representants from Azerbaijan. In the final held on May 24, they placed 8th among the 25 countries competing in the final. Travel to Ukraine and subsequent years In December 2009, Elnur announced that he would continue his music career in Ukraine and would not return to Azerbaijan. However, he returned to his homeland a few months later. In April 2010, Elnur participated as a contestant in the reality show Maşın but was eliminated on the first day. In 2010, Elnur participated in a musical based on Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” at the Heydar Aliyev Palace, portraying the character of Phoebus de Châteaupers. This musical marked a first in Elnur’s career. On December 1, 2014, Elnur participated in the O Ses Türkiye (The Voice of Turkey) competition, which aired on Turkey’s TV8 channel. After winning the final stage, it was determined that Elnur received the highest number of votes ever recorded in the competition, reaching one million votes. Elnur was chosen internally to represent Azerbaijan again in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. He presented his song “Hour of the wolf”, reached the final and became 12th in the contest. In 2015, Elnur performed the song “Avropa Oyunları qədim Bakı torpağında” (European Games in Ancient Baku Land) dedicated to the inaugural European Games held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. He performed the song together with Samir Javadzadeh and Honored Artist Sevda Elekberzadeh. Although Samir and Sevda initially performed the duet, Elnur later joined them. They performed the song in both Azerbaijani and English languages. Elnur Hüseynov also performed live shows before the opening ceremony held at Baku Olympic Stadium on June 12. In 2017, Elnur released a music video for his new song “Vibration,” with lyrics by Diana Hajiyeva and music by Isfar Sarabski. In September 2018 he released a new single again, this time with the title “Dreamer”. Ali Nasib wrote another song for Elnur. “Try to be yourself” was released on 26 April 2019. In 2020, Elnur teamed up with Ilgara Kazimova for the song “Deniz ver”. In 2021, Elnur joined a new band, the Sonar House Collective. Their debut single “Since I know you” was released on the 1st of February of that year. In February 2023, Elnur had a concert together with the “Mavi Ürəklər” blue choir, consisting of members with autism syndrome. On 7 April of the same year, his new video and song “Monster pop” was released. He performed at a youth festival organized for the Heydar Aliyev Year. Entries Hour Of The Wolf Country🇦🇿 Azerbaijan Year2015 LanguageEnglish LyricsLina HanssonNicklas LifNicolas RebscherSandra Bjurman MusicLina HanssonNicklas LifNicolas Rebscher BackingsKrysten CummingsNicklas LifTamara Nivillac DancersJulia SpiesserLukas McFarlane Results Semi Points: 53Position: 10Running order: 11 Results Finals Points: 49Position: 12Running order: 24 https://youtu.be/IcVrAFtc5YI Day After Day (Elnur & Samir) Country Azerbaijan Year2008 LanguageEnglish LyricsZahra Bədəlbəyli MusicGovher Hasanzadə BackingsNames of the 2 dancers and 2 backing singers are unknown. Results Semi Points: 96Position: 6Running order: 7 Results Finals Points: 132Position: 8Running order: 20 https://youtu.be/6OGVL_9P5fw