Dima Bilan
Dima Bilan |
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Dima Bilan (Russian: Дима Билан; born Viktor Belan, Виктор Белан, 24 December, 1981 in Karachay-Cherkessia) is a Karachay-Russian pop artist. Dima represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with Never Let You Go, finishing second.
Biography
When he was only one year old, his family moved to his grandmother’s place in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan. When he was six years old, his family moved to Kabardino-Balkaria where he went to school with his sister. He took part in morning performances, recited poems and sang songs.
He graduated from Gnesins Musical College as a classical vocal performer. Dima made his debut when he reached fourth place at the Russian/Latvian festival "New Wave" in 2002. In 2003, Dima Bilan released his debut album titled Nochnoy Huligan (Night Hooligan), which included covers of "Caruso" by Lucio Dalla and "Fever" by Elvis. In 2004, he released his successful single "Na beregu neba," which was also the title of his second album.
Produced by the late Yury Aizenshpis, a Russian music mogul famous for his work with Viktor Tsoi in the Soviet Union, Dima Bilan attempted to reach Eurovision previously with the song "Not That Simple" in 2005, finishing in second place at the Russian national selection. The video for the Russian version of the song was reputably the most expensive in the history of Russia's music industry. In December 2005, Dima received two golden gramophones for the song "Ty dolzjna ryadom byt'" (this is a Russian version of "Not That Simple") in Saint Petersburg and Alma Ata. During shootings of "Noviye pyesny o glavnom" (New songs about the main things) he received the grand prize of the First channel from the professional jury. Dima became Showbusiness Man of the Year because the most voters gave their voices for him according to the version of Rambler. At the end of a year he accepted an invitation from an American agency to record tracks for the musical Peter Pan. On 14 March 2006, Dima Bilan took part in "Zolotaya sharmanka" (Golden street organ) of "International Music Awards" in Kiev where he was honored as "Singer of the Year".
Dima Bilan has recently hired t.A.T.u.'s former PR manager, Sasha Tityanko, to help him break out in the western market.
Representing Russia in Eurovision
In the middle of March 2006, Dima Bilan was chosen internally by the Russian broadcaster Channel One to have the honour of representing Russia at the biggest musical contest in the world, the Eurovision Song Contest, that year in Athens, Greece. Out of 37 participating countries, Dima took second place with the dark pop song "Never Let You Go", equalling one of Russia's best ever showing at Eurovision — Alsou's "Solo" was runner-up back in the 2000 contest.
Dima scored 248 points — 44 behind winning song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Finland's Lordi — and received the maximum 12 points from a total of seven countries: Armenia, Belarus, Finland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. The only countries to not award Dima any points were Monaco and Switzerland.
Dima's stage performance included two dancing ballerinas and a white piano covered in red rose petals, from which a ghost-like female figure emerged halfway through the song (much to the audience's delight). Dima wore a white vest with the number representing his place in the contest's running order — 13 and 10 in the semi-final and final respectively. Due to Russia's poor result the previous year, Dima had to qualify for the final at the semi-final on May 18. He qualified in the top ten there (finishing third with 217 points) and moved directly to the final on May 20 as a bookies' favourite, following his strong semi-final performance.
Prior to the contest, Russian website RIN.ru reported that the head of Dima's hometown, Ust Jeguta, had promised to name one of the streets in his honour if he won.
Discography
Albums
- 2003 (Я ночной хулиган - I'm a Night Hooligan)
- 2004 (На берегу неба - At The Sky's Shore)
- 2006 (Время река - Time is a River)
Singles
- 2005 Ty dolzhna ryadom byt' (Ты должна рядом быть - You Should Be By My Side; recorded in English as "Not That Simple") Official Russian Top 100 Airplay Charts # 2
- 2005 Kak Hotel Ya (Как хотел я) # 2
- 2005 Ya tebya pomnyu (Я тебя помню - I Remember You) # 18
- 2006 Eto bуla lyubov' (Это была любовь - It Had Been Love) # 1
- 2006 Never Let You Go # 3
- 2006 Nevozmozhnoye vozmozhno (Невозможное возможно - Impossible Is Nothing; recorded in English as "Lady Flame") # 1
- 2007 Vremya Reka (Время река - Time is a River; recorded in English as "See What I See") # 2
- 2007 Number One Fan (produced by Timbaland)
References
1. tophit.ru Official Russian Airplay Top 100 Charts, retrieved 28 March 2006.