Ruslana

Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko ( uk, Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, ''Ruslana Lyzhychko''; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. She is also a former MP serving as deputy in the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) for the Our Ukraine Party. Ruslana was the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Ukraine in 2004-2005. She is recognized as the most successful Ukrainian female solo artist internationally and was included in the top 10 most influential women of 2013 by the Forbes magazine. The U.S. Secretary of State honored her with the International Women of Courage Award in March, 2014. She has been named an honorary citizen of her hometown Lviv and was nominated to receive the title Hero of Ukraine.

She is a singer, songwriter, producer, musical conductor, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, voice actress and social activist. She writes, composes and produces her own songs and music videos. Since 28 December 1995 she has been married to Oleksandr Ksenofontov, a Ukrainian record producer. Together they have run the company ''Luxen Studio'' since 1993, producing radio and film trailers.

Ruslana was the first artist from the former Soviet Union to officially receive a platinum disc, her '' Dyki tantsi'' album selling more than 170,000 copies in the first 100 days after its release. This album is the best selling Ukrainian album to date, together with its English version, more than 500,000 copies being sold solely in Ukraine.

She won the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Wild Dances" receiving 280 points, which at that time was a record of points. Following her victory, she rose to fame in Europe and became one of the biggest pop stars from the Eastern part of the continent. Her winning song "Wild Dances" dominated the European charts for 97 weeks peaking at number one in Belgium for 10 consecutive weeks. Her Eurovision winning song was included on the official compilation album called ''The Very Best of Eurovision'' celebrating the 60th anniversary of the contest.

Her repertoire includes songs performed mainly in Ukrainian and English, but she also recorded cover versions in Spanish and Latin languages.

Early life

Ruslana was born on 24 May 1973 in Lviv, Ukraine to Ukrainian father Stepan Lyzhychko and Russian mother Nina Sapegina. She was raised in the Lviv Oblast (province). Encouraged by her mother, Ruslana studied from the age of four at an experimental musical school and sang in different bands, including in the vocal-instrumental band Horizon, the band Orion and the children's ensemble Usmishka (Smile). With Usmishka, Ruslana performed at a large concert in the Druzhba Stadium in 1989. One of the headlining acts of that concert was Vasyl Zinkevych, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, who noticed her talent. At the end of the concert, Zinkevych asked her to come on stage and declared in front of an audience of 15,000 spectators: "Remember this young singer, your compratiot. You will see: she will definitely become a real star." After finishing secondary school, Ruslana entered the Lviv Conservatory where she graduated as a classical pianist and symphonic orchestra conductor in 1995.

Musical career

Early career

Ruslana started her career as the winner of the Slavianski Bazaar song competition in Vitebsk, Belarus in 1996 with the song ''Oj, letili dyki husi''. In the same year, she was among the nominees for the Ukrainian Singer of the Year award and the video for ''Dzvinkyi Viter'' (''Wind Bells'') was awarded Music Video of the Year. Since her early career, Ruslana's producer was Oleksandr Ksenofontov, whom she married in 1995.

In 1997, Ruslana began working on ''Christmas with Ruslana'' – the first L'viv Christmas television project of an All-Ukrainian scale including the video clip ''Ballad of a Princess'' which was the first animated music video made by a Ukrainian singer.

Her first album '' Myt Vesny – Dzvinkyi Viter'' (''A Moment of Spring – Wind Bells''), released in 1998, received high praise from the critics.

Still, wider recognition did not come until 1998 with the song ''Svitanok'' (''Sunrise'') and the album ''Myt' Vesny – Dzvinkyj Viter Live''. ''Svitanok'' was the first Ukrainian big-budget music video. In 1998, Ruslana was awarded Person of the Year, the song ''Svitanok'' was awarded Song of the Year and its accompanying music video was awarded Music Video of the Year. In the second half of 1998, she organized a charity tour which had the aim of raising funds for the restoration of the old castles from Western Ukraine. The tour was a success and thanks to Ruslana's efforts, the Zolochiv Castle was restored.

In 1999, she worked on the Christmas musical ''Ostanne rizdvo 90th'' (''The Last Christmas of the 90s''), which won the Ukrainian ''Movie of the Year'' award. With the video clip to the song ''Znaju ya'' (''I Know''), which is about the ancient people of the Hutsuls living in the Ukrainian Carpathians, Ruslana set new standards for modern video clip filming.

Education

In 1995, Ruslana graduated from the Lviv Conservatory as professional conductor and classical pianist. She was the student of one of the most prominent Ukrainian composers and conductors, Mykola Kolessa who is regarded as 'the father of the Ukrainian conducting school'. She used to be a part of the student choir of the Lviv Music Academy.

2004: Wild Dances Project and Eurovision victory

Wild Dances Project

Ruslana's father is from the West-Ukrainian area of the Hutsuls, the dwellers of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. They have a unique culture with an ancient and rich history that inspired Ruslana to create her concept album ''Wild Dances''. It combines powerful and permeating ethnic drums, trumpet sounds of the trembita, an ancient Hutsul music instrument, with modern dance beats. The album was composed by Ruslana after an expedition to the Carpathian Mountains in spring 2003.

The album ''Dyki Tantsi'' (''Wild Dances'') was released in June 2003 in Ukraine. The album sold more than 170,000 copies in the first 100 days after its release, even without a supporting tour. Together with its English language counterpart it was the first album ever to be certified five times platinum in Ukraine, selling more than 500,000 copies, making it the most successful album in Ukraine ever.

Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Ruslana was internally selected by the NTU 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. In the semifinal, the song received points from all other participating countries; in the final, Switzerland was the only country not giving any points to the song.

The single ''Wild Dances'' stayed a total of 97 weeks in various European single charts. It was certified gold in Belgium, Sweden, Russia, Greece, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In Belgium, it topped the singles charts at #1 for 10 consecutive weeks. Also in Ukraine and Greece, the song peaked at #1. The English language album ''Wild Dances'' was released in many European countries in the autumn of 2004. In Las Vegas she received the World Music Award as best selling Ukrainian artist.

After her victory Ruslana was appointed advisor to the Ukrainian prime minister, and the Ukrainian president bestowed upon her one of the country's highest honors when she received the title of People's Artist of Ukraine.

In Belgium she was among the top 15 ranked performers with her singles "Wild Dances" and "Dance with the Wolves". Ruslana was named the most popular person in Belgium, the sexiest girl in Greece, the most influential public person in Ukraine and was the first foreigner to receive the award of the Federation of Journalists in Turkey.

2005

Ruslana had been initially chosen to host the semi-final and the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. However, the singer had to decline the offer due to her involvement in the organization of a big charity concert dedicated to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster. Therefore, Ruslana appeared at the event only as a guest star. She performed a medley of ''Wild Dances'' and ''Heart on Fire'' at the opening ceremony being accompanied by the Zhyttia ballet and the Ukrainian drums ensamble ARS Nova. After interviewing the competitors in the green room she also performed her latest single ''The Same Star''. During this performance, Ruslana wore a red costume inspired by Ukrainian ethnic elements.

Also in 2005, Ruslana designed the cover for Jonathan Safran Foer's ''The Unabridged Pocket Book of Lightning'' which was produced as part of Penguin Books" was named Germany's all-time favorite Eurovision entry in an internet poll arranged by the German public television broadcaster NDR. During the television program ''Die Grand Prix Hitliste'', "Wild Dances" was presented as the winner, ahead of well-known classics, such as " Waterloo" and Germany's only winner (at the time), "Ein Bißchen Frieden", which finished in sixth and twelfth place respectively. The programme was viewed by a television audience of approximately six million people in Germany.

For the FIFA World Cup 2006 Ruslana went on tour in Germany to support the Ukrainian national football team. She performed in Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig, and Nuremberg.

2008: Wild Energy & ''Grand Theft Auto IV''

Ruslana's project ''Wild Energy'' was based on the science fiction novel by Maryna and Sergij Diachenko '' Wild Energy. Lana''. In a future city which experiences a global energy crisis, far more threatening than lack of oil and gas, people are lacking their will to live, their energy of the heart – the "fuel for people". Lana, one of the synthetic inhabitants, sets out to find the mystical energy source. After many adventures, she discovers that the wild energy comes from her own heart.
Wild Energy combines the art of music and video production, literature and social commitment in an extraordinary way. In June 2006 Ruslana presented the new single and video ''Wild Energy'' in a unique fantasy style. In this video clip, the singer develops from a synthetic blonde girl into her wild image.

In March 2008 Ruslana's Ukrainian album ''Amazonka'' was released in Ukraine, Czech Republic and Slovakia. The English album ''Wild Energy'' was released by Warner Music in Canada and several European countries in autumn 2008.

The album was recorded at the Hit Factory Studio in Miami and contains two collaborations with American Urban superstars T-Pain and Missy Elliott. On this release Ruslana creates her own distinctive technique of incorporating ancient ethnic styles of the Carpathian Mountain people with modern popular music.

In ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', Ruslana lends her voice as the host of Vladivostok FM. Her song "Wild Dances" is featured as one of the songs on Vladivostok. On 13 May 2008, ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' broke the Guinness World Records for "Highest grossing video game in 24 hours" and "Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours". It sold 3.6 million copies on day one generating $310 million in revenue.

2009–2010: Asia Song Festival & new album recordings

In 2009, she was invited to attend the sixth Asia Song Festival which took place in Seoul, Korea. The event was held at the Seoul World Cup Stadium where Ruslana sung in front of an audience of 60,000 people. Together with the ''Zhyttia'' ballet, she performed three songs from her first international album: "Wild Dances", "Dance with the Wolves" and a bilingual version of "Play, Musician!". Her act was met with great enthusiasm by the Asian public who didn't know her until that moment. Even if she was supposed to receive only an award for her contribution to the cultural exchange between Ukraine and Asia in music, in the end she also won the main award of the festival, receiving the golden statue for the best artist of the Asia Song Festival 2009.

2011–2012: The Voice of Ukraine and Ukrainian album ''Ey-fori-YA''

In 2011, Ruslana was appointed as one of the judges of the Ukrainian version of ''The Voice'' show. Her involvement in the project was featured on the Dutch TV where the original show of the series kicked off. Eventually, Ruslana's alumni, Tonya Matvienko, placed 2nd in the grand final of the Ukrainian show.

Also in 2011, her song ''Wild Dances'' was used by the American gymnast Jordyn Wieber as the soundtrack for her floor exercise. Wieber eventually became the 2011 World Women's All-Around Champion and won the golden medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics performing her floor exercise on Ruslana's song.

In April 2012 the new Ukrainian language album ''ЕЙ-форі-Я'' (''EY-fori-YA'') was released in Ukraine. The album on which Ruslana had worked for four years was produced in the USA, Sweden and Ukraine produced by Vlad Debriansky and Ruslana and features musicians such as Rusty Allen, Victor Little, George Benson, Brian Coller and others.

Despite its intercontinental rock and pop nature, the album ''EY-fori-YA'' and the three songs taken from it previously is based on Slavic rhythms. Ruslana integrated old Slavic circle dances, liturgies and elements of classic pieces of Russian composers including Glinka, Tschaikowsky, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninow.
The album is designed for flash mob type synchronous dances. In April/May 2012 she toured 11 Ukrainian cities with a unique show concept called ''OGO Show''. During these open-air events Ruslana appeared as lead dancer teaching the audience the moves. The audience doesn't consume passively, but is integrated into the show. More concept concerts followed within the framework of the ''EURO 2012'' public fan events.

2013: International album ''My Boo! (Together!)'' & ''Clash of the Choirs''

Her third international album was set to be released in 2013 under the title '' My Boo! (Together!)''. The new material shows how versatile Ruslana is as an artist as she completely changed her style since the ''Wild Energy'' project, from a wild Amazon to an Urban pop princess.

Most of the album was produced by Vlad DeBriansky in Los Angeles and includes the names of American top musicians such as Rusty Allen, Victor Little, Oscar Seaton, Brian Coller as well as Stefan Örn from Sweden who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 as a songwriter. Goran Bregovich, the legendary Balkan musician from Serbia produced the song ''Kray''

At the same time of the release of the new English album Ruslana's Ukrainian album ''ЕЙ-форі-Я'' (''EY-fori-YA'', ''Euphoria'') was re-released under the new title ''Мій Брат! (разом)'' (''Miy Brat! (razom!)'', ''My Brother! (together!)''). The renaming of the album had become necessary because of the coincidental same name of the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The Swedish singer Loreen won the event with the song ''Euphoria'', one month after Ruslana had released her Ukrainian album and song of the same name. In order to avoid misunderstandings Ruslana's renamed not only her album but also her English song ''Euphoria'' into ''This Is Euphoria''.

In August 2013 Ruslana globally released the single ''This Is Euphoria'' digitally. The track was composed and produced by Ruslana and the Swedish musician Stefan Örn.

She was invited to perform at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 which took place in her country's capital Kyiv. Nevertheless, she withdrew her act from the show considering the violence shown by the Ukrainian authorities against those who were peacefully protesting in the country's capital.

She was one of the coaches of the first season of the Clash of the Choirs TV show in Ukraine. Ruslana and her alumni from the city of Lviv have won the grand final of the project on 5 January 2014, receiving 78% of the tele voting.

2014–2016: Eurovision juror

In January 2014 her international album '' My Boo! (Together!)'' was released digitally. For her subsequent album Ruslana intended to study again ethnic motifs as she regarded the Wild Dances project as her most creative work. Due to her active involvement in the Euromaidan in Ukraine, Ruslana had to postpone her musical plans.

Ruslana was invited as music expert for Eurosong, the Belgian selection for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in order to choose the best candidate to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.

On 9 and 10 October Ruslana held two concerts at the Manchester Ukrainian Cultural Centre 'Dnipro'. She originally planned on performing only one show however as the tickets sold out within hours, it was decided that she would perform a second concert the next day. Tickets for that show were also almost sold out.

On 24 October, Ruslana performed a concert along with the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus in Massey Hall in Toronto. The purpose of the concert was to showcase the beauty and the importance of the Bandura in Ukrainian music and culture. For her final song, Ruslana performed along with the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus as well as the Zoloti Struny Youth Bandura Ensemble based in Toronto. She was a judge at Vidbir, Ukraine's National Selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Out of the three jury members, she was the only one who supported the singer Jamala who later on became the second Eurovision winner from Ukraine.

In late 2016, after Jamala's victory at Eurovision in Stockholm, Ruslana played 3 concerts in Western Europe. In October she played in London, in November she played in Paris and in December she played in Hanover (Hannover). In all of these concerts she spoke about the victory that Jamala brought for Ukraine, and how Ukraine would be opening up to the world again in May 2017.

2017: It's Magical / Ya lyublyu

After her long-lasting creative break, which was caused by the dramatic and stormy events in Ukraine, Ruslana presented her new single "It's Magical / Я люблю" at the Eurovision Grand Finale in Kyiv on 13 May 2017. The new music style combines tender cradle songs with brisk exotic melodies and rhythms. The original, exotic manner of singing which forms the basis of the soundtrack Ruslana acquired on sometimes extreme expeditions into the Carpathian Mountains. The song was released in an English ("It's Magical") and a Ukrainian version ("Я люблю" / "Ya lyublyu" / "I Love").

The film production took place in a unique place, the Basalt quarry in the Rivne region. Director Oles Sanin created a thunderstorm in a realistic way for the video clip. The image of Ruslana in the chainmail in which she appears in the clip resembles her internal state. After all the events in her country and her extreme expeditions into the mountains, Ruslana feels like a kind of warrioress who is called to protect the most valuable: Love. In her song, video Ruslana wants to draw attention to the widespread deforestation in the Carpathians. Her aim is the preservation of the Carpathian primeval forests, their unique wildlife, and exceptional culture.

Political activities

2004: Orange Revolution

In autumn 2004 Ruslana actively supported the democratic processes in Ukraine known as the Orange Revolution, to which her song "Dance with the Wolves" was devoted. She declared her support for Viktor Yushchenko during the disputed Ukrainian presidential elections. She became one of the prominent figures that addressed the mass crowds rallying in support of Yushchenko's demand that his original defeat be declared fraudulent.
From spring 2006 to summer 2007 she was a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament for the party Our Ukraine.

Ruslana endorsed Yulia Tymoshenko

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