After yesterday’s announcement in Russia that the famous pop singer Sergey Lazarev will wave their flag at the 61st Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Philipp Kirkorov revealed today in an interview that the Russian song for Eurovision will be composed by himself and famous Greek composer Dimitris Kontopoulos.
During yesterday’s Russian Music Awards, it was revealed that Sergey Lazarev will be the representative of the country at the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. The Russian superstar Philipp Kirkorov revealed in an interview he gave to super.ru, that he, along with Eurovision veteran Dimitris Kontopoulos and his team, will compose the Russian entry.
Dimitris Kontopoulos and his Greek team where invited by the Russian National Broadcaster,to work on the Eurovision project. They proposed to the broadcaster Lazarev, who, at the beginning, didn’t want to go but all this was till he heard the song. Lazarev, in my opinion, is today the only decent artist who can present our country on a high level. My Greek team and RTR believe in this artist. It is not going to be easy and it is a great responsibility since the whole country is going to watch. But he’s strong, he passed through fire and water, he’s a hard worker, and I am sure that he will not let down our country, his fans and the people who believe in him.
Who are Philipp Kirkorov and Dimitris Kontopoulos?
Philipp Kirkorov was born on 30th April 1967 in Varna, Bulgaria. His father is a Bulgarian singer of Armenian descent, Bedros Kirkorov. In 1984, he entered the Gnesin State Music School, graduating with honors in 1988. His musical style is mainstream Russian pop music with various Western influences and, like many Russian pop stars of the 1990s and 2000s, he frequently collaborates and records duets with other Russian pop artists. His mother, Victoria Kirkorovа (née Likhachevа), was a Bulgarian singer of Jewish descent.
In 1988, Kirkorov met the Russian mega-star singer Alla Pugacheva for the first time. She invited him to take part in her New Year’s concert show. The following year, Kirkorov toured and performed with Pugacheva in Australia and Germany. He was also a finalist in the Russian national “Song of the Year” competition. He won many music awards like Music Video of the Year 1990 and Best Male Singer of the Year 1993.
In 1994, he proposed to Alla Pugacheva and she accepted. On January 13, the couple announced their engagement in Moscow. On March 15, the marriage was registered in St. Petersburg by then mayor Anatoly Sobchak. On May 15, the wedding of Kirkorov and Pugacheva took place in Jerusalem. Kirkorov represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995, held in Dublin, with the song Kolybelnaya Dlya Vulkana (Lullaby For The Volcano) and finished in 17th place. He co-wrote the Belarusian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, Work Your Magic, for Dmitry Koldun and wrote the 2008 Ukrainian entry Shady Lady, performed by Ani Lorak.
Dimitris Kontopoulos was born in Athens, Greece, on November 9, 1971. After graduating school, he continued his studies in film scoring at Berklee College of Music in Boston and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Kontopoulos became active in the music industry in 1999–2000. In 1999, he produced the album Etsi Ime Ego by Iro. Two singles of the album, Etsi Ime Ego and Tipota (which came second in the Greek national final for Eurovision 1998), topped the Greek charts and made the producer famous nationally.
In 2002, he produced and composed the album of popular Greek singer Giannis Vardis. In 2003, he became involved with the Eurovision Song Contest for a second time when he wrote the song Mia Stigmi, sung by Vardis, which came second in the Eurovision Greek national final that year.
In 2005, Kontopoulos again wrote a song for Eurovision but this time for Russia. Shadows, performed by Anastasia Stotskaya, was placed third in the Russian national final. In 2006, Kontopoulos composed the score of the popular television series Loufa kai Parallagi. The song Pano Stin Trela Mou topped all the charts in Greece and won the first spot of the Annual National Airplay Chart.
In 2008, Dimitris Kontopoulos tried once more to represent Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest with Kostas Martakis and his song Always and Forever but he ended second again. However, he produced the song Shady Lady, composed by Philipp Kirkorov and performed by Ani Lorak who represented the Ukraine at the Eurovision song contest and was placed second.
At last, Dimitris Kontopoulos represented Greece as the composer for Sakis Rouvas in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. He composed three songs: Out Of Control, Right On Time, and This Is Our Night, which were voted on at the national final in February 2009. The song titled This Is Our Night got the most votes and thus represented Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, which took place in Moscow. After the results of the jury and the tele-voting were announced, the song was placed seventh in the final.
On May 2013, Dimitris Kontopoulos participated again at the Eurovision Song Contest this time with Azerbaijan. His song Hold Me performed by Farid Mammadov came second with 234 points, the most points that Azerbaijan has ever received at the Eurovision Song Contest. On the night, the song received the maximum 12 points from 10 countries.
Kontopoulos was also one of the two composers of the song Shine of The Tolmachevy Sisters which took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 for Russia. To date, the Greek musician has composed and produced 14 albums, 8 of which have gone platinum and two of those twice platinum.
