NORWAY 🇳🇴
Secret Garden is an Irish-Norwegian band specialized in new instrumental music, led by the duo consisting of Irish violinist and singer Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer, arranger and pianist Rolf Løvland. The group has sold over 3 million albums since having won the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest, representing Norway with the composition “Nocturne”.
SPAIN 🇪🇸
On 20 January TVE selected Ruth Lorenzo as one of the five candidates to represent Spain at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Months earlier the eurovision-spain.com website made a survey known as “La Elección Interna” among eurofans and international juries from thirteen different countries to check who could be the ideal Spanish candidate to represent Spain. Ruth came second in the list among one hundred different Spanish candidates. In February the song “Dancing In The Rain” was released as one of the Spanish pre-selection entries for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The song was released on 18 February and it became number one on iTunes Spain. On 22 February she won the Spanish national final. Therefore, she represented Spain in the contest with the song “Dancing In The Rain” on 10 May 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The song finished 10th overall.
ICELAND 🇮🇸
Ari Ólafsson is a 19 year old Icelandic classically trained singer. He started singing at a very early age and his angelic voice and stage charm soon landed him lead roles in musicals at the National Theatre of Iceland. Amongst other musicals, he played a part in Oliver, a musical directed by Selma Björnsdóttir who came second in the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest with the song All Out Of Luck.
CYPRUS 🇨🇾
In February 2018, it was confirmed that Foureira would represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song “Fuego”. The song was composed by Greek-Swedish songwriter Alex Papaconstantinou. On 8 May 2018, she qualified from the first semi–final to the grand final. In the final held on 12 May 2018, she finished as the runner–up to winner Netta from Israel, having received the fifth most votes from the international juries and the second most votes from the public televoting process; this marked Cyprus’ best Eurovision placement in history. During the Host Broadcast press conference of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, Foureira was announced as one of the four artists from previous contests that will perform at the finals of the show, where performed the 2007 runner–up Verka Serduchka’s song “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”.
SWEDEN 🇸🇪
In 2009, Bergendahl signed for Lionheart Records. Her debut album was released on 14 April 2010. Bergendahl won Melodifestivalen 2010 with the song “This Is My Life” and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Norway, although she was unable to qualify for the final. The song hit No. 1 on the Swedish Singles Chart on 5 March 2010.
SPAIN 🇪🇸
Once proclaimed the winner of Operation Triunfo, López began her musical career by signing a three-album deal with Sony BMG Music, RCA Records and Vale Music. She starred in several TV spots like Todos contra el fuego for the Ministry of the Environment (along with fellow Operación Triunfo contestants), and for New World Jewels, the latter with a two-year deal. On 25 April 2002 she released the namesake studio album Rosa, consisting of Latin pop genre compositions by songwriters such as Armando Manzanero, Inma Serrano and José Luis Perales. The album was commercially successful selling over 500,000 copies in Spain, and her first single, “Europe’s Living a Celebration”, topped the hit list of radio Los 40 Principales. With “Europe’s Living a Celebration”, she finished in the 7th position at the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn. The summer after Eurovision, López extensively toured Spain. During the tour, she started having problems with her voice but continued working until mid-September, when she cancelled the rest of the tour. López spent a year out of the public eye and due to speculation, she called a press conference where she explained that she would soon return to the stage.
NORTH MACEDONIA 🇲🇰
Eye Cue is a North Macedonian pop-rock duo consisting of vocalists Bojan Trajkovski and Marija Ivanovska, formed in 2008. The group found chart success with “Magija” in 2008, and entered the MTV Adria Top 20 with the song “Not This Time” in 2010. In 2015 they won Skopje Fest with the song “Ubava”. The duo represented North Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with their song “Lost and Found”, held in Lisbon, Portugal.
