Ruslana

Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko (Ukrainian: Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, IPA: [rʊsˈlɑnɐ steˈpɑn⁽ʲ⁾iu̯nɐ lɪˈʒɪtʃko]; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a Ukrainian singer, songwriter, producer, activist and former politician. She is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. She is also a former MP serving as deputy in the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) for the Our Ukraine Party. Ruslana was the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Ukraine in 2004–2005. She is recognized as the most successful Ukrainian female solo artist internationally and was included in the top 10 most influential women of 2013 by the Forbes magazine. The U.S. Secretary of State honored her with the International Women of Courage Award in March 2014. She has been named an honorary citizen of her hometown Lviv and was nominated to receive the title Hero of Ukraine.

Ruslana writes, composes and produces her own songs and music videos. Since 28 December 1995 she has been married to Oleksandr Ksenofontov, a Ukrainian record producer. Together they have run the company Luxen Studio since 1993, producing radio and film trailers.

Ruslana was the first artist from the former Soviet Union to officially receive a platinum disc, her Dyki tantsi album selling more than 170,000 copies in the first 100 days after its release. This album is the best selling Ukrainian album to date, together with its English version, more than 500,000 copies being sold solely in Ukraine.

She won the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Wild Dances" receiving 280 points, which at that time was a record of points. Following her victory, she rose to fame in Europe and became one of the biggest pop stars from the Eastern part of the continent. Her winning song "Wild Dances" dominated the European charts for 97 weeks peaking at number one in Belgium for 10 consecutive weeks. Her Eurovision winning song was included on the official compilation album called The Very Best of Eurovision celebrating the 60th anniversary of the contest.

Her repertoire includes songs performed mainly in Ukrainian and English, but she also recorded cover versions in Spanish and Latin languages.

Ruslana was born on 24 May 1973 in Lviv, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. Her father, Stepan Lyzhychko, is a Hutsul Ukrainian, and her mother, Nina Sapegina, is a Russian of Polish-Lithuanian origin.

Encouraged by her mother, Ruslana studied from the age of four at an experimental musical school and sang in different bands, including in the vocal-instrumental band Horizon, the band Orion and the children's ensemble Usmishka (Smile). With Usmishka, Ruslana performed at a large concert in the Druzhba Stadium in 1989. One of the headlining acts of that concert was Vasyl Zinkevych, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, who noticed her talent. At the end of the concert, Zinkevych asked her to come on stage and declared in front of an audience of 15,000 spectators: "Remember this young singer, your compatriot. You will see: she will definitely become a real star." Ruslana's parents divorced in 1991. After finishing secondary school, Ruslana entered the Lviv Conservatory where she graduated as a classical pianist and symphonic orchestra conductor in 1995.

Ruslana started her career as the winner of the Slavianski Bazaar song competition in Vitebsk, Belarus in 1996 with the song Oj, letili dyki husi. In the same year, she was among the nominees for the Ukrainian Singer of the Year award and the video for Dzvinkyi Viter (Wind Bells) was awarded Music Video of the Year. Since her early career, Ruslana's producer was Oleksandr Ksenofontov, whom she married in 1995.