Anastasia was born with music in her veins. Her mother is a high profile theatre critic employed within the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture. Anastasia’s pathway was probably inevitable, since the day she was born on the 21st of April 1987 in Kyiv. Before finding her feet as a vocalist, the young artist tried her hand at numerous other instruments, namely the guitar, flute and piano. She graduated from the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts with folk vocals as her specialized subject.
Her voice is characterized as a seldomly deep contralto. Anastasia feels most at home performing what she does best, music with folk influences, singing both in Ukranian and Russian. She writes and composes material herself. In 2007, she won the Russian Star Factory talent show, resulting in a musical partnership between herself and producer Konstantin Meladze. Following her particpation for Russia at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest however, their relationship began to tuen sour and by 2010 Meladze refused to cooperate with her any longer. A brief artistic partnership with producer Igor Goncharenko ensued, also coming to an abrupt end mid 2010. From then on, Anastasia has worked with her brother Nazar.
Anastasia is only the second non russian to represent the country on the Eurovision stage. Her participation in the 2009 edition of Europe’s favourite contest was controversial, as she had previously attempted to represent her native Ukraine, only to be disqualified due to what she claimed was unclarity of the participation rules. She subsequently lodged an appeal, but to no avail.
According to Anastasia’s website, her personality can be summed up with the following attributes: kind, smart and friendly. Her hobbies include fashion, chess and horse riding. During her career, she has released 3 singles: Безответно (unrequited) in 2008, Мамо (2009) and Action, and english language single in 2010. The latter was Anastasia’s comeback attempt in trying to represent her home country at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Despite being one of the favourites tipped to win, she trailed in to a disappointing 8th place. Oddly enough, her releases appear to have been much more appreciated in Russia than in her home country, with her singles reaching #25, #22 and #62 respectively.
