THIS YEAR'S ENTRY
Russia first
entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 in
Dublin, and has come close to winning on four
occasions, finishing 3rd in 2003 and 2007 and
2nd in 2000 and in 2006. All of Russia's
successful entries were internal selections by
Russian Channel 1 but this year, another
broadcaster RTR is responsible for the Russian
entry and they decided to have a national final,
to select their entry for Belgrade.
As befits
Eurovision's largest country, the Russian
national final was the biggest of the year. An
amazing 27 songs competed athe Russian Final
which was held on March 9th at the
Akademicheskiy Concert Hall in Moscow. The
winner was chosen by a combination of a jury and
a public televoting/SMS voting/internet voting.
The winner of both sections was
"Believe" performed by 2006 Eurovision
runner-up Dima Bilan. After that memorable
performance in Athens, the Forbes magazine
couldn’t but settle Bilan on the top of the
rating of most popular Russian
celebrities.
Since launching his first
single in Russia in 2003. Dima Bilan emerged
in less than three years to be one of the most
popular and widely acclaimed talents from
Russia, being recognised with the most
prestigious accolades in the industry. Dima Bilan got classical
scholarship at the famous Gnesin Academy of
Music. Being a student, he got acquainted with
top Russian manager in show-business, the late
Yuriy Aizenshpis, who became Dima’s manager
and added a lot to Dima’s successful career
in Russia. In 2003 Dima graduated from Gnesin
Academy and received his diploma from the
hands of the highly respected Russian artist
losif Kobzon, and having decided to obtain
even more vocal skills, Dima became the
student of GITIS (The State Institute of
Theatrical Art).
One of the first steps in
Dima's career was his participation in the Jurmala
contest, the most important music contest in
Eastern Europe, where he finished 4th. Dima Bilan released three
platinum albums: "Ia Nochnoy Hooligan"
(The Night Hooligan) in 2003 2003, "Na Beregu Neba"
(Between the Sky and Heaven) in 2004 on which
Dima collaborated with world-famous songwriter
Diane Warren, and Vremya-Reka
(Time Is a River) in 2006 which sold over
2,000,000 copies in Russia and in the former
Soviet Union countries. Dima's Eurovision Song Contest hit
single Never Let You Go catapulted Dima
to superstar status and placed him on top or
all Russian radio and TV-charts in May 2006.
In September 2005 Dima
received two big awards at MTV Russia Music
Awards for 'Best Performer' and 'Artist
Оf Тhe Year'. The same year Bilan
went to Lisbon to represent Russia at the MTV
Europe Music Awards. In July 2006 Dima Bilan
was one of the four artists who took part in
the biggest musical event in Russia of 2006 - The
Red Summer - on the Red Square in Moscow,
where he performed on stage with Shakira, The
Black Eyed Peas and t.A.T.u. In September
2006, for the second year in a row, Dima Bilan
won the 'Artist of the Year' and 'Song of the
Year' trophies at the MTV Russia Music
Awards.
In February and March 2007 Dima recorded his
first international album in English in Los
Angeles and in Philadelphia in collaboration
with producer Timbaland and his production
team: Danjahandz, Jim Beanz and Ryan Tedder.
One of the new tracks will be a duet with one
of Timbaland's most successful artists: Nelly
Furtado. The new album is due to be released
in 2008, and the first single from it was the
Jim Beanz-penned song "Number 1 Fan",
with a video which was shot in London by
famous British director Trudy Bellinger.
According to Russian
and Eastern Europe radio airplay chart
TopHit.ru, "Number 1 Fan" topped the
charts for 8 weeks. On October 4th, 2007 Dima
Bilan premiered his second single from the
upcoming album, "Amnesia", at the MTV
Russia Music Awards 2007. During this
show, Dima won three most prestigious awards
for 'Best Performer', 'Best Song' and – for
the third time in three years - 'Best
Artist'.Dima’s first international album in
English will be released in the United States
later this year, and its Spanish version will
be released in Latin America in 2008 as well.
Currently, Dima Bilan is recording it with top
Latin music market producer and songwriter
Rudy Perez, world-famous for his work with
Julio Iglesias, Christina Aguilera and
Beyonce.
After
winning the ticket to Belgrade, a flood of
money saw the Russian entry fly into top spot
as the bookmakers favourite and its a virually
guaranteed finalist. However fan polls have
been a lot less supportive, which is
surprising with a former Eurovision star being
involved in the entry. Nevertheless, it would
appear that "Believe" is the song to
beat in Belgrade in 2008 especially with a
very elaborate performance which features a
champion ice-skater.
