Nica & Joe

Nica & Joe formed as a vocal duo when Polish singer Veronika Belyavskaya joined forces with American vocalist Joseph Guyton. Belyavskaya, born in Legnica, Poland, had previously resided in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Moscow, Russia, before completing her training at the Maastricht Academy of Music, whereas Guyton, born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York and earned a spot in the Plácido Domingo Young Artist Program. The pair connected only months prior to entering the 2011 second season of the German casting competition The X Factor, where jury member Sarah Connor served as their mentor and guided them to a third-place finish behind David Pfeffer and Raffaela Wais. Their self-titled debut album appeared that same year and presented a glamorous mixture of pop balladry and classical music through reinterpretations of Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever,” Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “The Power of Love,” and Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” ultimately peaking at number 25 on the German album charts.