Bobby Andonov (born 28 August 1996), known by his stage name BOBI, is an Australian singer, songwriter and producer.

Early life

Bobby Andonov was born on 28 August 1996 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia to Macedonian parents originating from Strumica, North Macedonia.Jonathon Moran and Elle Halliwell
"Australia's Got Talent star Bobby Andonov has secret past life,"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', 16 May 2010. He has performed since the age of six, when he started dancing and singing in his hometown of Melbourne. At the age of nine, he starred as Danny Zuko in a junior production of ''Grease'' the musical. He lived in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

from the age of 13 to 15. He was then selected to be one of four young Simbas in the Broadway production of ''The Lion King'' in Melbourne and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China.

Music career

At the age of 14, Andonov represented North Macedonia at the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the sixth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which is the world's largest song contest for children. It was held at the "Spyros Kyprianou" Athletic Centre in Lemesos, Cyprus and host ...

in Cyprus. Out of 15 countries, he came in fifth with his song "Prati Mi SMS", which led to a European tour around the Balkans. In 2010 Andonov entered for '' Australia's Got Talent''. His audition reached over 15 million views. He was a grand finalist on the show, performing covers of songs including

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

's "

Hallelujah ''Hallelujah'' ( ; he, ''haləlū-Yāh'', meaning "praise Yah") is an interjection used as an expression of gratitude to God. The term is used 24 times in the Hebrew Bible (in the book of Psalms), twice in deuterocanonical books, and four tim ...

" and

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's " Heartless".Colin Vickery
"Talent changes Bobby's future,"
'' Herald Sun'', 8 June 2010. In 2010, record producer and music critic

Molly Meldrum Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM (born 29 January 1943) is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent co-ordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular mus ...

flew Andonov to Sydney to meet R&B singer Usher. In early 2014, Andonov wrote two songs for the Australian feature film ''The Dream Children'', directed by

Robert Chuter Robert Chuter is an Australian theatre director, film director, producer, writer, and actor. Early life Robert John Chuter was born on 23 April 1964 in Carlton, Victoria, Australia, the only son of Rita Spalding and British emigrant Harry Chut ...

. He also worked on

Afrojack Nick Leonardus van de Wall (; born 9 September 1987), better known as Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ, music producer and remixer from Spijkenisse, South Holland. In 2007, he founded the record label Wall Recordings; his debut album '' Forget the Worl ...

’s 2014 debut album '' Forget the World'', co-writing the track "Born to Run", which features

Tyler Glenn Tyler Aaron Glenn (born November 28, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is known as the lead vocalist and keyboardist of the American rock band Neon Trees and as a solo artist. Biography As a teenager, Glenn attended Ch ...

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on vocals. Andonov co-wrote and co-produced the 2015 single "Stone", recorded by ''

The X Factor Australia ''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...

'' winner

Cyrus Villanueva Cyrus Villanueva (born 20 June 1996), also known mononymously as Cyrus, is an Australian singer from Wollongong, New South Wales. He is best known for winning the seventh season of ''The X Factor Australia'' in 2015. His debut studio album ''C ...

. In November 2015, Andonov was signed to a deal with Hollywood Records and moved to Los Angeles, where he currently resides. On 20 October 2017, he released his debut single "Apartment", along with a music video for the song which reached number 9 in the Top 50 global playlist on spotify.Jon Ali
"Queer Necessities: Billboard Pride's November Playlist,"
'' Billboard'', 1 November 2017.

Discography

Singles

* "Apartment" (2017) * "Faithful" (2018) * "Smoke" ft Son Lux (2018)

Production and writing credits

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andonov, Bobby 1994 births Living people Australian people of Macedonian descent Australian pop singers Australian soul singers Australian child singers Australian singer-songwriters Junior Eurovision Song Contest entrants Australia's Got Talent contestants Hollywood Records artists Australian male singer-songwriters