Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu (; born 23 August 1974),
also known by his stage names Ovi Martin, Ovi Jacobsen, or simply Ovi, is a Romanian-Norwegian singer and songwriter. After being raised in
Botoșani
Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa.
Origin of the ...
, he moved to Norway in 1995.
He rose to fame in Norway in 2006 when he first took part in the
Melodi Grand Prix 2006 with the song "The Better Side of Me" where he did not qualify to the final. The next year he was a finalist of the
Melodi Grand Prix 2009 with the song "Seven Seconds" but lost to
Alexander Rybak
Alexander Igorevich Rybak (; born 13 May 1986) or Alyaksandr Iharavich Rybak () is a Belarusian-born Norwegian musician and actor. Based in Oslo, Norway, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in S ...
. In 2010 he participated in the
Selecția Națională 2010 for Romania alongside duet partner
Paula Seling
Paula Seling (; born 25 December 1978) is a Romanian singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. She has released more than thirteen albums (including three Christmas albums) and over twenty singles, which include two top-te ...
. They won with the song "
Playing with Fire" with which they represented
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
. They qualified for the grand final where they took the third position, only behind winner Germany and runner-up
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. After Eurovision, Ovi released a new duet with Seling; "We Got Something".
In 2012 he was back in the
Melodi Grand Prix 2012 this time as a songwriter along with
Thomas G:son and Tommy Berre for the song "High on Love" as performed by Reidun Sæther. The song qualified for the final. Apart from the European recognition, Ovi has also entered several music charts with songs like "Seven Seconds" (2009), "Playing with Fire" (2010) or "We Got Something" (2011) – the latter two are featuring Paula Seling. He is also the Popularity Award winner of the 2009
Golden Stag Festival
The Golden Stag Festival () is an international pop song contest, festival, and award show, held annually in the Piața Sfatului of Braşov, Romania.
First held in 1968, the festival honors musical talents both in Romania and abroad.
Non-Roman ...
in Romania.
In 2014 he returned to
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...
together with duet partner Paula Seling when they participated for Romania with the song "Miracle". The same year Ovi co-wrote the song She's After My Piano for the group
2 Fabiola who participated in the Belgium national selection for
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...
. The song did not win in Belgium but became a major hit for 2 Fabiola. Later Ovi and Paula Seling recorded their own version of the song for Ovi's album A Bit of Pop Won't Hurt Anyone, 5 May 2014 (daWorks).
Melodi Grand Prix
Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu submitted several songs written and performed by himself for the
Melodi Grand Prix
Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norsk Melodi Grand Prix, is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK). It determines for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been sta ...
selections in the last 2000s but was only selected towards the semi-finals twice. In 2008 his entry had no success, while in the
Melodi Grand Prix 2009 he was in for the Final on 21 February with the song "Seven Seconds" but did not qualify for the Golden Final. The song was even though a mild chart success, entering the top-fifteen of the
VG-lista
VG-lista is the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from Norwegian and international artists. It is presented weekly in the newspaper ''Verdens Gang, VG''. The data is collected by Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Soundscan Inte ...
at number-twelve.
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Cernăuțeanu represented Romania in 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 (Alexander Rybak song), Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak. Organise ...
(as Ovi) in a duet with Paula Seling. They performed "
Playing with Fire", which was composed by Cernăuțeanu himself.
They passed the second semi-final, where they were the fourth. In the Grand Final, Seling and Ovi performed the nineteenth (after France and before Russia). At the voting, they got 164 points and classed the third that night, equaling the best result for Romania in the contest. They received 12 points from
Moldova
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...
, 10 points from United Kingdom, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, etc. Only eight countries did not give the top ten points to them that night.
On 1 March 2014, Paula Seling and Ovi won the Romanian national selection
Selecția Națională 2014 and were selected as the Romanian entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...
in Copenhagen with the song "
Miracle
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
".
The duo came 12th place receiving 12 points only from Moldova.
See also
*
List of music released by Romanian artists that has charted in major music markets
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cernauteanu, Ovidiu
Living people
Romanian emigrants to Norway
Spanish-language singers of Romania
Spanish-language singers of Norway
English-language singers from Romania
English-language singers from Norway
1974 births
People from Botoșani
Norwegian male singer-songwriters
Norwegian singer-songwriters
Norwegian pop singers
Norwegian people of Romanian descent
Romanian male pop singers
Romanian male singer-songwriters
Romanian pianists
Norwegian male pianists
21st-century Norwegian singers
21st-century Romanian singers
21st-century pianists
21st-century Norwegian male singers
Eurovision Song Contest entrants