Chiara Siracusa better known by her mononym Chiara (born 25 September 1976), is a Maltese singer. She represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2005, and 2009 and is with a second and a third place the third most successful participant who never won the contest (behind Germany's

Katja Ebstein Katja Ebstein (born Karin Witkiewicz; 9 March 1945) is a German singer. She was born in Girlachsdorf (now Gniewków, Poland). She achieved success with songs such as "Theater (song), Theater" and "Es war einmal ein Jäger". She was married to , w ...

and

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ho ...

Biography

Eurovision 1998

In 1998, she won Malta's Song for Europe festival, the national pre-selection for Eurovision, with the gentle ballad " The One That I Love", which she then took to the contest in Birmingham. With Eurovision being a national passion in a country that has so far never won the contest, much of Malta held its collective breath in the latter stages of the event as their entry held a joint lead with Israel, with only one country left to declare its vote. But Chiara was to suffer heartbreak in the end, as Macedonia gave her no points at all, leaving her behind the victorious

Dana International Sharon Cohen ( he, שרון כהן; born 2 February 1969), professionally known as Dana International ( he, דנה אינטרנשיונל), is an Israeli pop singer. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums. She wa ...

of Israel, and even pushing her narrowly into third place behind Imaani of the United Kingdom. That was still enough to qualify as Malta's best ever placing at the time, from the 1992 contest. Chiara told in a BBC interview two years later that she cried for several hours in the bathroom of her hotel suite after losing at Eurovision, but she came to see her high scoring as an achievement.

Eurovision 2005

In 2005, aiming for another chance at Eurovision, Chiara re-entered the Song for Europe festival, and along with 21 other entries reached the final on 19 February with the song ''Angel'', another ballad which this time she wrote and composed herself. For the first time, Malta's Eurovision entry was selected solely by a public vote. Chiara won with 11,935 phone calls, 566 ahead of her nearest rival Olivia Lewis, and so represented Malta at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2005 The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, Ukraine. Chiara had the distinction of joining an unusually extensive list of 2005 competitors who had competed previously in the contest, including

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

's 1999 runner-up

Selma Selma may refer to: Places *Selma, Algeria *Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada *Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons United States: *Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches *Selma, Arkansas *Selma, Cali ...

, and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

's Helena Paparizou, who in the 2001 contest was lead singer of third-placed Antique. Chiara came second in the Contest with 192 points, putting her ahead of Malta's only other Eurovision runner-up,

Ira Losco Ira Losco M.Q.R. (born 31 July 1981) is a Maltese pop singer. Her career breakthrough came in 2002, when she represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "7th Wonder". She placed second in the competition, Malta's best ...

and making "

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

" the most successful Maltese entry of all time. One scholarly study has claimed that, were it not for the effects of regional "bloc" voting, Chiara would have won the Contest.Derek Gatherer, 'Comparison of Eurovision Song Contest Simulation with Actual Results Reveals Shifting Patterns of Collusive Voting Alliances'. http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/9/2/1.html After the result in 2005, Chiara had been working a lot around

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and abroad, most notably in Greece and Cyprus.. She hosted the Malta Song for Europe in 2008.

Eurovision 2009

The loss of her father in 2008 became tough time for Chiara, but as a tribute to him she was even more determined to achieve further success. Chiara returned to the Malta Eurosong finals with a song composed by

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

songwriters Gregory Bilsen and Marc Paelinck. On 7 February 2009, Chiara won the Maltese preselection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

. She represented Malta in the first semi-final in Moscow with her song What If We on 12 May. She qualified to the grand final, held on 16 May, and finished 22nd in the final vote.

2010–present

Siracusa was the spokesperson for

at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2010 The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Oslo, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song " Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. Organised by the European Broadcasting U ...

, giving the points awarded from the Maltese voting in the final. In June 2010, she released the Official Malta Gay Pride Anthem, "Believe (We Are One)".

Discography

*1998: ''Shades Of One'' *2000: ''What You Want'' *2003: ''Covering Diversions'' *2005: ''Here I Am'' *2009: ''What If We''

Charted Singles

Eurovision entries

*" The One That I Love" *"

" *" What If We"

References

External links

Chiara Siracusa
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:Siracusa, Chiara 1976 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Malta 21st-century Maltese women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1998 Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2005 Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2009 Maltese pop singers Maltese singer-songwriters 20th-century Maltese women singers Maltese people of Italian descent English-language writers from Malta