Lyzhychko Ruslana is known to many music lovers in Eastern and Western Europe due to her victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004. The singer is also known for her indefatigable temperament and attempts to take an active part in the political life of Ukraine. How did Ruslana achieve great success in Ukrainian show business and what does she do today?
Ruslana Lyzhichko: biography, childhood
Ruslana was born in Lviv in a family of employees of the Institute of Petrochemistry. According to the zodiac sign, the singer is a twin.
Parents divorced when the girl was eight years old. Mother subsequently made a lot of efforts to ensure that Lyzhychko Ruslana took place in show business. And even now, a woman works in a production agency created by her daughter in Kiev.
It was her mother - Nina Arkadyevna - who gave her daughter to study at a music school. In parallel, little Ruslana performed with children's groups under the name “Orion”, “Horizon” and “Smile”.
Accustomed to musical culture since childhood, Ruslana after graduating from school did not puzzle for a long time what profession she would receive: she went straight to the Lviv Conservatory. In the conservatory Lyzhichko mastered playing the piano and conducting skills.
Carier start
Lyzhichko Ruslana has a singing voice viola and contralto. Since she sang since childhood, after graduating from the conservatory, she decided to try herself in show business. The first victory was not long in coming, and already in 1996 Ruslana won a triumph at the Slavyansky Bazar festival.
In the same year, Ruslana shoots her first ever video for the song “і і”. During the period of work on the audio recording of this composition, the girl gets acquainted with her future producer and husband.
In the 97th. Ruslana is invited to Lviv television in order to create the program “Christmas with Ruslana”. Collaboration with television helps the performer win the attention of many viewers, so that in a year she finally releases her first album. Especially popular were the tracks “Svitlo i tin”, “Balada about the princess” and “You didn’t dream about it ...”. The song "Svitanok" was warmly received by critics and even received the Golden Firebird 98 award.
Breakthrough and worldwide fame
However, Ruslana always felt like a bird of long flight, so she was looking for ways to distinguish herself and enter the world market. Lyzhychko Ruslana, whose ancestors along the papal line were Hutsuls, finally found her inspiration in folk music. For the 2003 album “Wild Dance”, the singer synthesized a new style in which dance motifs mixed with the playing of folk Hutsul instruments were actively used. This album in Ukraine went platinum 5 times. Half a million copies were sold.
In 2004, at her own expense, Ruslana went to the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul. According to the singer, she and her husband “put everything on this contest” and even got into debt. That is why Ruslana understood that she could only come back with a full victory. Already in the semifinals of the competition Lyzhichko took 2nd place. When the final concert died down, Ruslana gave top marks to many countries, including Russia, Iceland, Poland, Turkey, Estonia, Israel and many other states. The singer scored 280 points and by a wide margin took first place of honor.
After that, a crazy popularity hit the performer. The album "Wild Dances" entered the music stores in Europe. In Romania, the singer even received a prestigious award in the nomination “Best Foreign Album”.
Personal life and family
Ruslana Lyzhichko, whose family currently lives in Kiev, has been married to her producer - Alexander Ksenofontov - since 1995.
In one interview with the Ukrainian TV channel Ruslana admitted that she had been exhausted for a year of preparation for Eurovision and several years after it: there were cases when the singer was carried away from the stage by the ballet show, because she could not move from fatigue. Such exhausting tours affected her health, so for many years they cannot have a child with her husband. So far, Ruslan and her spouse are not planning to adopt anyone, therefore, to this day, the singer has no children.
Recent life events
The singer directed her unrealized maternal potential in a completely different direction: she is trying to take an active part in the political and public life of Ukraine. Ruslana Lyzhichko, whose songs the whole country knows, was an active participant in Maidan 2004, as well as Euromaidan 2013.
The performer sincerely believed that she was defending a “just” cause and from the stage she spoke loud words: in particular, she promised that she would burn herself if Euromaidan did not bring positive changes to the life of Ukrainians. Well, positive changes have not yet been observed, but Ruslana is not in a hurry to publicly put out fire. Having failed in the political arena, in March 2015, the singer returned to show business after a long break.
By the way, the last album with the singer was released in 2012 ("Ya-fori-Ya"), and the last video clip was released in 2013. In the same year, the singer played her last concert before becoming an Maidan activist, which began in November 2013 year