Wizex is a Swedish dansband, formed in Osby, Sweden in 1973 with Kikki Danielsson as the leadsinger.
The band had several lead singers after Kikki left in 1982. Lena Pålsson left in 1997, Charlotte Nilsson left in 1999, Paula Pennsäter let in 2002, Jessica Sjöholm left in 2007 and Anna Sköld is the current lead singer.
In 1978 Wizex came 2nd at the Swedish Melodifestivalen with the song Miss Decibel which was a big hit in Sweden. In 1992 Wizex participated again but didn't reach the top 5 with the song Jag Kan Se En Ängel. In 1999 Wizex had a huge hit with Tusen Och En Natt. Charlotte Nilsson, who was the lead singer of Wizex at that time, won Melodifestivalen with Tusen Och En Natt and the Eurovision Song Contest with Take Me To Your Heaven which is the English version of Tusen Och En Natt.
Jostein Hasselgård (March. 24 1979) is a Norwegian singer.
Jostein grew up in Fredrikstad close to the border with Sweden. He started to play the piano when he was six years old and has trained in several musical genres. Jostein has studied at the Norwegian Acedemy Of Music and also worked as a kindergarten teacher.
In 2003 Jostein participated in the Norwegian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest which he won with the ballad I'm Not Afraid To Move On. In Riga Jostein came unexpectedly 4th. After the contest Jostein founded his band Hasselgård and they released an album in 2004.
Egon Egemann is an Austrian musician who studied classical violin and Jazz at Graz Music Academy in Austria.
He settled in Switzerland following studies in Boston, USA and founded the Egon Family Orchestra. By the end of 1989 he had decided to follow a solo career and in 1990 Egon was selected to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 in Zagreb with the song Musik Klingt In Die Welt Hinaus. It was placed 11th out of 22 entries.
Egon Egemann returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, as the composer of Switzerland's entry in Birmingham, Laß Ihn. The song was performed by Günvor and came 25th with no points.
Sonny O'Brien, born as Sonny Oroir in 1972, is a Belgian singer.
When she was twelve Sonny won a talentshow with the song How Will I Know which was originally sung by Whitney Houston. A couple of years later Sonny won the soundmixshow as Celine Dion. Sonny participated twice in the Belgian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 2002 Sonny came 5th with the song All Out Of Love and in 2006 she stranded in the semi-finals with the song I'll Be There For You. After that Sonny stopped her singing career.
Veronika Amanda Akselsen (January 30, 1986) is a Norwegian singer. Veronika is self-taught as a singer and was raised in a family of musicians. Veronika debuted in 2004 with the album Fattige Var De Som Først Fikk Se on which she interpreted the Christmas songs and familiar hymns.
Veronika took part in the Norwegian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 and 2008. In 2006 she came 5th with the song Like A Wind and in 2008 she came 4th with Am I Supposed To Love Again.
Marta Roure Besolí is an Andorran singer and actress. She represented Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with her song Jugarem a estimar-nos, earning the eighteenth place in the semifinal. It was the first time a song in Catalan language was performed at the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as Andorra's debut at the competition.
Marta Roure Besolí was born on January 16 1981 in Andorra la Vella, Andora, into a music family. Her great-grandfather Joan Roure i Riu was a trumpeter, her grandfather Joan Roure i Jané a sardana composer, her aunt Meritxell Roure Morist has been a piano teacher, and her father Jordi Roure i Torra a band director, trumpeter and trumpet teacher. Roure has a sister, Anna, who is a piano teacher. She was born in Andorra, but she spent her youth in France.
Marta is the mother of a boy born in 2002 and called Julen.
Marta Roure attended until 4th course of Sol-fa and 3rd of piano at the Conservatoire of Andorra. She attended first course of guitar and song at the Music School in Lleida and studies of musical theater at Youkali school in Barcelona, with Marc Montserrat and Susanna Egea as teachers of interpretation, Emma Reverter as teacher of Dance Jazz, Rosa Mateu in spoken voice technics, Enric Torner as teacher of claque, Josep Maria Borràs teacher of sol-fa and repertoire, and Fulgenci Mestres and Carme Sánchez teachers of song. She also attended an intensive course of Comedia dell'Arte with Ester Cort at the Col·legi de Teatre in Barcelona.
Before she worked as a technical of health in Andorra la Vella, but during 19 years can she relate with dance, the sportive and rhythmical gymnastics and the esbart dansaire. She has been in Barcelona under the theatrical orders of Joan Ollé interpreting the work of Choral theater Romput. She has done small collaborations in written press and in Ràdio Principat and Ràdio Estel. At present she lives in Andorra, is studying Juridical Sciences, and is the voice of De Bar en Bar and also collaborates in concerts of other formations.
In 2004, Marta Roure was chosen to represented Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with her song Jugarem a estimar-nos, following a programme on the Andorra Televisió. It was the first time Andorra competed at the Eurovision Song Contest, and the first time a song in Catalan language was performed at the competition. Eventually, Roure earned twelve points and placed the eighteenth in the semifinal, and did not advance to the final. Shortly after, on 8 November 2004, she released her debut album Nua.
Bis A Bis is an Andorran duo that competed in the Andorran pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
There were a series of quarter-finals and semi-finals to pick the Andorran entry. In each quarter final, two songs were presented with one being eliminated. In the two semi-finals, three of the winning songs from the six quarter-finals were presented wit one going on to the final. In the final thre were two songs left, first there was a voting to pick the winning song and a second voting selected the winner. Bis A Bis came second, so did the song Terra. Marta Roure with the song Jugarem A Estimar-Nos won the Andorran pre-selection.
Arjen Tijs (1971) and Margriet Verhagen (1966) are a Dutch duo since 2001. In 2004 they participated in the Dutch National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest with Arjen's song De Dag Na De Dertiende which stranded in the semi-finals.
Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (February 12, 1946, in Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish pop singer and actress. Through a career spanning five decades, Ajda has released more than 20 albums and is the most commercially successful female Turkish music artist with the sales of over 30 million copies worldwide. She is nicknamed the "Superstar" of Turkish pop music. Although famed for her music, Pekkan started her career as an actress with appearances in almost 50 films. During her music career, Pekkan has recorded songs in 9 languages. Apart from Turkish, she is also fluent in English and French. She also speaks Azerbaijani and Italian.
With the help of her sister Ajda began singing at the popular Istanbul nightclub Çatı in 1962. The following year, Ajda won a Cover Star contest sponsored by the Turkish music magazine Ses and was launched on a professional career.
Between 1963 and 1967 the statuesque actress appeared in 47 films opposite popular Turkish actors. Ajda Pekkan’s first recording, Her Yerde Kar Var, brought her great success in 1965. Ajda’s continuing success resulted in invitations to international festivals including the Apollonia Music Festival in Athens (1968 and 1969) and the Mediterranean Song Festival in Barcelona (1969).
The success of her songs resulted in a series of Turkish-language concerts with Enrico Macias at the Paris Olympia in 1976. In 1977 Ajda participated in the Yamaha Music Festival in Tokyo with a melancholic ballad with a catchy chorus called A Mes Amours which finished 12th in the Grand Final and won an Outstanding Song Award and an Outstanding Performance Award.
On April 19, 1980, Pekkan represented Turkey with the song Petr'Oil at the Eurovision Song Contest in Den Haag, the song came only 15th. She then decided to take a break and temporarily moved to the USA. After returning to Turkey she released Süperstar III which she followed with Süperstar IV. Superstar III was a huge success.
In late 1989, she began working on her new album with famous Turkish musicians including Fuat Güner from MFÖ (the band which represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 and 1988), Şehrazat, and Metin Özülkü. The album, simply titled Ajda. 1990 was a new breakthrough for Pekkan, with sales of over a million. In 1991, she released Seni Seçtim which was an even greater success. In 1993, she released Ajda ‘93 which was recorded in Switzerland, Turkey and United States. She worked with Atilla Şereftuğ on this album, a famous Turkish musician who had written the Eurovision ’88-winning song Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi for Celine Dion. After many successful albums she decided to release a best of album, and in September 1998, she released The Best of Ajda. Two years later, in 2000, Pekkan released another studio album, simply called Diva and enjoyed sales of over two million copies.
In 2001, she started performing in an Istanbul club Catwalk and her performances were all sold out, with the help of an eager audience looking forward to see The Superstar after a three year hiatus. The performances were so successful that Pekkan postponed closing the show by about six months. In 2002, she also began making a movie called Şöhret Sandalı. After several years of financial setbacks, it was released in 2006.
In the summer 2003, she released her single Sen İste, written by her friend Şehrazat, the popular songwriter. Six years later,in August 2006, Ajda released her latest album Cool Kadın which was a huge success in Turkey.
In the summer 2007 she began a completely sold out concert series called Ajda goes Disco performing her songs in disco rhythms with Turkey's most famous DJs live on stage. After that, Ajda began to work on a new studio album, Aynen Oyle, which was released in Turkey, German and USA in 2008. To promote it, Pekkan began touring in Turkey.
The New Seekers are a British-based pop group, formed in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music had rock as well as folk influences. They achieved worldwide success in the early 1970s.
The group was formed after the disbanding of the successful 1960s Australian band The Seekers. Keith Potger, a member of The Seekers, put together The New Seekers in 1969, featuring Laurie Heath, Chris Barrington, Marty Kristian, Eve Graham, and Sally Graham. Potger himself also performed and recorded with the group. After one single release, the line-up was reworked in 1970 to Eve Graham, Lyn Paul, Marty Kristian, Peter Doyle, and Paul Layton. This line-up found instant success with their debut release, a cover of Melanie Safka's What Have They Done to My Song Ma, which became a top 20 hit in the US and a minor one in the UK.
Over the next year, the group released a number of singles to little recognition, but it was in June 1971 that they released their breakthrough hit, Never Ending Song of Love. The song became a big hit in the UK.
Early in 1972, the group were chosen to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest. They entered with the song Beg, Steal or Borrow, which was chosen by viewers of BBC1's It's Cliff Richard! show from six songs performed by the group on a weekly basis. They went on to finish in second place at the Eurovision Song Contest in Edinburgh, where the group received the biggest cheer of the night from the partisan audience. The song was a No.2 hit in the UK and sold well in Europe. Around this time, they also charted highly with their most successful album, We'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, which reached No.2.
The following year the group saw a slight dip, although they did score a top 20 hit with an adaptation of Pinball Wizard. Member Peter Doyle left the group this year and was replaced by Peter Oliver. The New Seekers had enjoyed a number of hits in the US by this time and toured there with Liza Minnelli in 1973. However, despite this success, the group announced their split amid much publicity. With allegations that the members were receiving little financial reward for their success, The New Seekers officially disbanded in May 1974.
In 1976, The New Seekers reformed with Kathy Ann Rae and Danny Finn replacing Lyn Paul and Peter Oliver. Although they never replicated their earlier success, the group did manage to score a few hits. This line up remained intact until 1979, when Danny Finn and Eve Graham left the group to marry. In 1980, the group attempted to represent the UK again in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Tell Me, but it was disqualified shortly before the British heats were televised due to the fact the group had already been promoting the single.
Today's New Seekers are still popular, especially in Australia.
Bruno Filippini (Rome, April 3, 1945) is an Italian singer.
After winning the Castrocaro Festival in 1963 Bruno obtained a recording contract.
He participated in the Sanremo Festival in 1964 with Sabato Sera, which was his biggest success. In 1965 Bruno participated at the Festivaal di Sanremo with L'amore Ha I Tuoi Occhi. Both songs were hits in Italy and Spain.
After these successes Bruno had a few minor hits but eventually he stopped his singing career and performs only occasionally on Italian television.
