Alexander Rybak

Hailing from Norway, Alexander Rybak brings together an array of musical skills as vocalist, tunesmith, composer, violinist, pianist, and arranger. International recognition arrived for him in 2009 when he claimed the Eurovision Song Contest title with “Fairytale.”

Born May 13, 1986, in Minsk, Belarus, he is the child of a classical pianist and a classical violinist. At the age of four his family left the Soviet Union behind and relocated to Norway. He started formal instruction at Oslo’s Barratt Due Institute of Music once he turned ten.

Before representing his adopted country at Eurovision in 2009, he had collected several distinctions, among them the Anders Jahre Culture Prize in 2004 and the Melodi Grand Prix that same year. Rybak entered the contest with “Fairytale,” the song he wrote and composed himself. The entry not only secured victory but also established a lasting benchmark by scoring 387 points, the highest total recorded in the competition’s history.

In the weeks after the win, “Fairytale” appeared as a single and reached the top spot in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia, and Greece. It also placed inside the top ten in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany.

Several months later Rybak released his first full-length solo album, Fairytale (2009), through EMI. Issued in more than twenty-five countries, the record climbed to number one on the Norwegian charts and earned triple-platinum status for sales while also topping the charts in Russia and landing in the top five in Sweden and Finland. Largely written by Rybak and sung in English, the album contains the follow-up singles “Funny Little World,” a Norwegian chart-topper, and “Roll with the Wind,” which reached the top ten.