Donna Hightower

Donna Hightower, born in Missouri on December 28 1926, is an American r&b, soul, jazz, pop and disco singer.

Donna grew up in Los Angles and was influenced by gospel and jazz and by artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Kay Star and Ella Mae Morse. In 1952 Donna was discovered and was invited to sing in Horace Henderson's orchestra. A couple of years later Donna won a record deal at a talent show and she made a few successful singles.

In 1959 Donna moved to Europe were she performed in Sweden, Spain, Germany, Belgium and France where she lived a couple of years. In Spain Donna won several prizes on festivals and made many records with Danny Daniel as the duo Danny y Donna. In 1972 Donna had her biggest hit world wide with the song This World Today Is A Mess which sold more than a million copies. After a few pop and disco records Donna recorded in 1976 the album El Jazz Y Donna. In 1991 Donna stopped her singing career and moved to Austin, Texas. Donna performs very occasionally.

In 1970 Donna took part in the Spanish pre-selection for the ESC with the song Soy Feliz which came 7th.

In 1971 Donna represented Spain in the World Popular Song Festival with the song If You Hold My Hand which was selected for the Grand Final but was disqualified because the song didn't follow the W.P.S.F. rules. The song became a big hit in Europe, Canada, the USA and Japan.

World Popular Song Festival - José Cid

During his long career José Cid participated three times at the W.P.S.F. in Japan, twice as a singer and once as a composer.

In 1971 he took part with the song Ficou Para Tia which didn't reach the Grand Final and in 1972 José wrote the song Desde Que Me Ames Un Pouco for Vittorio Santos which also stranded in the semi-finals.

In 1975 José participated again with the song Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow which came 9th in the Grand Final and won an Outstanding Song Award. The Portuguese version of the song, Ontem Hoje E Amanhã, was a big hit in Portugal.

Ebonique

Ebonique is a Dutch group formed in 2000 by producer Tjeerd van Zanen. Originally Ebonique consisted of Ingrid Simons, Mieke de Jongh en Caroline Dest who was replaced by Danie Duzant in 2005.

In 2001 Ebonique participated in the Dutch national final with the song So Much Love which came 2nd.

The follow-up single Give A Little was the title song for the Dutch tv-show Big Diet. The song was a success in Germany.

In 2003 Ebonique participated again in the Dutch pre-selection for the ESC and this time they came 4th with the song Heatwave which was written by Gérard James Borg and Philip Vella.

Ebonique is still performing and during their performances they sing songs from the 70s and 80s like It's Raining Men, We Are Family, Conga, Rhythm Of The Night etc.

Jamala

Jamala, born as Susana Jamaladinova on August 27 1983 in Kirgizistan, is an Ukrainian jazz, r&b and classical singer.

Jamala has been fond of music since her early childhood. She released her first single at the age of nine. Jamala entered the Simferopol Music College named after Tchaikovsky followed by the graduation from the National Music Academy named after Tchaikovsky as well, majoring in opera singing. Being at the top of her class, Jamala planned to devote herself to the classical music, envisioning her career as a soloist at the famous Milan La Scala Opera. Nevertheless her true passion for jazz and experiments with soul and oriental music has changed her plans defining the main streams of the future career.

Jamala made her first steps on the big stage at the age of fifteen. During the next few years she took part at dozens of vocal contests of Ukraine, Russia and Europe, where she received some prestigious awards. Since 2001 she was a soloist in the vocal quintet Beauty Band. The terrific performance at the junior 2006 Jazz festival of young artists brought Jamala a special award, while attracting the attention of the famous choreographer Elena Kolyadenko, who invited Jamala to perform the leading part in the Pas of Olena Kolyadenko multi genre musical and ballet Freedom. This part in the musical became an essential step in Jamala’s performing career.

The turning point in Jamala’s career came with her performance at the New Wave - 2009 International contest of young pop singers in summer 2009. The contest’s chief director statements regarding Jamala’s not fitting the format did not stop her from reaching the finals and more than that receiving a grand prize of the contest.

After that Jamala instantly became famous. Jamala performed many times in Ukrainian TV shows and won many awards in her country.

Early in 2011, Jamala took part in the Ukrainian national final for the ESC with the song Smile. The song was a crowd favorite and came 3rd in the final.

Burger Le Roux

Burger Le Roux, born 1990 in Western Cape, is a South African singer and the winner of the reality television competition Supersterre, in 2010.

Burger started singing at the age of 9 and auditioned for Supersterre because he wants to be South Africa’s new Superstar.

The elimination from 250 participants to 10 was very challenging for him.

Steve Hofmeyer is his role model. In five years' time he would like to see himself participating in all the big festivals and with a lot of hits played on radio and also on CD racks.

For his album Burger covered two songs from Melodifestivalen 2010, Unstoppable and Manboy.

Azis

Azis, born as Vasill Troyanov Boyanov Katuras on March 7 1978, is Bulgarian Romani Chalga (pop-folk) singer known for his flamboyant persona.

Azis recorded and performed many songs with some of the most popular Bulgarian pop-folk singers like Sofi Marinova and Ustata. Azis also performed alongside Mariana Popova in the semi-final of the ESC 2006 with the song Let Me Cry.

His political career began in 2005 as a member of the Evronoma political party and ran in the general elections campaign in the summer of 2005, but Azis did not receive enough votes to become a member of the Parliament.

In 2006 Azis was elected as the 21st greatest Bulgarian of all time. In that same year he married his husband Niki Kitaetsa. Their marriage is not legally recognized given the laws of Bulgaria.

Since 2008 Azis is the host of the critically acclaimed talk-show Azis's Late Night Show.

For one of his albums Azis covered the ESC song Lane Moje.

Lisa Andreas

Lisa Andreas (December 22 1987, Kent) is an English/Cypriot singer, model, actor and dancer.

Lisa was discovered as a singer at the Strand in Gillingham. After that she performed at various concerts and road-shows giving her talent to support charities such as Children with Leukemia. She also performed in a concert at the Red Cube in London to raise fund for the September 11th attacks. Lisa has also performed at many Pride concerts.

In 2004 Lisa won the right to represent Cyprus at the ESC with the emotional ballad Stronger Every Minute. Lisa was the youngest artist taking part at the ESC in 2004 and came 5th in the final.

Lisa finished her degree at Trinity College of Music in Musical Theatre and is currently writing and co-producing her own songs.