Ruslana

Having long shone as a leading light in Ukrainian music, Ruslana emerged as her country’s foremost international success after claiming victory at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest. Born Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko in Lviv in 1973, she entered an experimental music school at age four, fronted multiple bands during her teenage years, and later earned degrees in conducting and classical piano from the Lviv Conservatory.

Following her 1996 triumph at the Slavyanskiy Bazar song competition, she produced her own Christmas television special and issued her debut album, Myt' Vesny: Dzvinkyj Viter, under the guidance of producer Oleksandr Ksenofontov; the follow-up, Najkrashche, arrived in 2001. Drawing on her father’s Hutsul lineage, her third album, Dyki Tantsi, took shape as a concept project that merged traditional ethnic instruments with modern dance beats, and its self-written title track was selected to represent Ukraine at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest. Ruslana tallied 280 points and received votes from every nation except one among the 25 entrants, securing her homeland’s first Eurovision crown on only its second try.

To build on her growing European profile, she delivered her first English-language album, Wild Dances: Welcome to My World, issued the remix collection Club'in, and performed across Germany in support of the Ukrainian national team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Inspired by the science-fiction novel Wild Energy by Maryna & Serhiy Dyachenko, her fourth album, Lana, appeared in both Ukrainian and English versions and included guest spots from T.I. and Missy Elliott. A committed political activist, Ruslana contributed her track “Dance with the Wolves” to the Orange Revolution and was named Good Will Ambassador of Ukraine by UNICEF. Throughout the late 2000s and 2010s she continued releasing material in both languages, among them the 2008 projects Amazonka and Wild Energy, 2012’s Eyforiya, and 2013’s Miy Brat! and My Boo! (Together!).