ESC 2011, semi-final 1 - Azerbaijan

Nigar Jamal was born on September 1, 1980 and is an Azeri singer who's currently living in London. She studied economics and management and graduated in 2001. Nigar took part in the Azeri national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 were she won the right to represent Azerbaijan in Düsseldorf. She will sing the song Running Scared together with Eldar Qasımov. Eldar was born on June 4, 1989, is an Azeri singer and the great-grandson of a very famous Azeri actor couple. He studied music and piano. In Düsseldorf they will perform as Ell and Nikki.

ESC 2011, semi-final 1 - Armenia

Emmy, born as Emmy Benjanyan on April 12 1984 is an Armenian singer.

Emmy is considered to be one of Armenia's most popular singers, being labelled as pop princess and Armenian pop icon. After her first single in 1993 Emmy became very popular in Armenia and she still is. Emmy also runs Emmy-B Production Center, a music-production company searching for new young talents in Armenia.

In 2010 Emmy participated, together with Mihran, in the Armenian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the son Hey Let Me Hear You Say which finished 2nd.

In 2011 Emmy was invited to sing four songs in the Armenian pre-selection. The song Boom Boom won and is the Armenian entry in Düsseldorf.

ESC 2011, semi-final 1 - Albania

Aurela Gaçe (October 16, 1974) is an Albanian singer who lives in New York.

She won the Albanian Song Festival Festivali i Këngës in 1999, 2001 and in 2010.

In 2010 Aurela won Festivali i Këngës with the song Kënga Ime. At the Eurovision Song Contest of 2011 she sings Feel The Passion which is the English version of the song.

Linda Bengtzing

Linda Birgitta Bengtzing, March 13, 1974 Gullspång, Sweden is a Swedish pop singer famous for her participation in the fourth season of the Swedish Fame Factory and for her entries at Melodifetivalen 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2011.

Linda grew up in Gullspång, in the west of Sweden. In 1987 and 1989 she released two unsuccessful singles and then disappeared from the music industry for fifteen years.

In 2004 Linda took part in the fourth season of Fame Factory, after that her song Alla Flickor was selected for the Swedish pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In the final Linda came last, scoring 15 jury points but no points at all from the telemeters. The single reached no. 8 in the Swedish chatters and a few months later she released Diamanter which reached no. 32 in the charts.

In 2005 Linda appeared again in Melodifestivalen. Her song Jag Ljuger Så Bra, originally written for Jessica Andersson, came 7th in the final but reached no. 2 in the Swedish charts. In 2007 Linda released together with singer Markoolio the song Värsta Schlagern, a parody on traditional Melodifestivalen entries. The song is rumored to have been entered into Melodifestivalen 2007.

In 2008 Linda participated again at Melodifestivalen with the song Hur Svårt Kan Det Va which came 5th in the final. The song got ni points at from the telemeters.

In 2011 Linda participated one more time at Melodifestivalen, this time she tried to represent Sweden with the song E De Fel På Mig but unfortunately it came last in the final.

Helena Vondráčková

 

Helena Vondráčková  is a Czech singer whose career has spanned five decades.

Helena Vondráčková (born June 24 1947, Prague) is a Czech singer, writer and musicalstar whose career has spanned five decades. She's a big star in Japan, Russia, Czech Republik and Slovakia.

In 1970 Helena represented Czechoslovakia at the World Popular Song Festival with the dreamy song Ostrovy Pokladů which finished 16th in the Grand Final. In 1979 Helena represented Czechoslovakia once again at the W.P.S.F but this time she stranded in the semi-final with the song Když Zabloudiš, Tak Zavolej. The song was a huge hit for her in Japan and in Czechoslovakia.

In 1977 Helena won the Intervision Song Contest in Poland with the song Malovaný Džbánku.

In 2007 she wanted to represent the Czech Republik at the Eurovision Song Contest but her song Samba was disqualified before the Czech pre-selection. Then she came with Ha Ha Ha but her manager didn't want her to participate so she didn't.

Py Bäckman

Py Marie Elisabet Ulrika Bäckman Wennborn, better known as Py Bäckman (July 5, 1948 Stockholm), is a Swedish musician. She's a singer and a songwriter of pop and rock for musicals and films. She also plays piano and harmonica. Py made her television debut in 1957 and started performing in public parks after that. In 1973 she began touring across Europe as a leadsinger of Swedens rock group NQB. Py wrote music for films and translated musicals like Evita and Garbo. Py released many singles and albums and is still popular in Sweden.

Py participated three times in Melodifestivalen, which is the Swedish pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1979 she sang Var Det Här Bara Början? which came 7th, in 1992 she sang Långt Härifrån which finished 5h and in 2010 Py came last in the fourth semi-final with the song Magisk Sjärna.

Py also wrote for other artists. For example Stad I Ljus for Tommy Körberg. This song won the Swedish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1988 and came 12th in Dublin. During the dress rehearsal of the contest in Dublin Py had to sing the song instead of Tommy because he had a throat infection and wasn't able to sing a all. During the live show Tommy fortunately could sing the song himself.

Ben Saunders

Ben Saunders is a dutch tattoo artist and singer. Ben won the dutch talent show The Voice Of Holland.
Ben Saunders (born July 9 1983 England) is an English singer who won the first-ever title of the Dutch singing competition series The Voice of Holland broadcast on RTL 4. The final of 2010-2011 season was held live on 21 January 2011. Saunders is also a tattoo artist. He is  known as Tattoo Ben.

Saunders is of British origin. He is the younger brother of Dean Saunders who on 22 January 2011, won the title of the third season (2010–2011) of the Dutch music competition Popstars, notably only a day after Ben's victory on The Voice.

Brothers Ben and Dean Saunders both started applying to talent competitions early like for the series Daddy's Wish. They also took part in 1998 in Life is like a box of chocolates program.

In 2000, Dean and Ben Saunders both took part in RTL 4's Alles voor de band: Follow that dream. They were part of the band Follow That Dream (F.T.D.) (that included besides the two brothers Vanessa Eman, Rosa Vuik, Linda van Toornburg and Peter van der Meer. The band was signed to Dino Music record label.

Their debut single the self-titled Follow That Dream was released in November 2000 reaching #25 in the Dutch Top 40. 6 months later, the band split after the great popularity of the rival Starmaker show.

On February 15, 2003 the Saunders brothers took part in the 2003 Dutch national final for the ESC in Riga, Latvia. They performed the song Stand As One in the third heat under the name The Brothers getting just 10 points and finishing with 3% of the popular vote as seventh out of 8 participants.

In 2010, Ben Saunders applied to The Voice of Holland singing competition proving to be very popular with both judges and the voting public, after singing in his audition Use Somebody from Kings of Leon. Ben was coached by Roel van Velzen. In the final, he sang his number one single, his cover version rendition of If You Don't Know Me by No" and duetted with Welsh singer Duffy on her song Warwick Avenue and won by 59% of the votes against runner-up Pearl Jozefzoon.

Saunders has charted with 4 different songs in the top 15 of the Dutch charts, including attaining #1 position with his single Kill For a Broken Heart.