Alexander Rybak is a Norwegian musician and singer of Belarusian origin. In 2009 he became the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest held in Moscow, having received at that time the largest number of votes in his support in the history of the competition. In 2018, the singer again took part in Eurovision, but this time he could not repeat the success. He took only fifteenth place.
After winning Eurovision, Rybak released his new song album, which became very popular in Russia and Europe. But gradually they began to forget about the singer, although in Norway he is still very popular.
Currently, Alexander continues his creative career. He writes new songs, gives concerts and published his first children's book "The Troll and the Magic Violin", the rights to which were acquired by a book publishing house in Denmark. Sometimes the singer comes to Russia and Belarus to take part in corporate events, TV shows and festivals.
Biography facts
Sasha was born in the spring of 1986 in Belarus. His parents were creative people. Father is a violinist who has long performed on stage with the Belarusian orchestra. Mom is a professional pianist, who later started working on Belarusian television, where she was engaged in the preparation of musical programs. Alexander's grandmother was a teacher at a music school.
From childhood, the boy was surrounded by music. Not surprisingly, at an early age, he began to play musical instruments and study vocals. The first music lessons were given to Sasha by his father. He taught him to play the piano, violin and guitar. For further training, the boy chose a violin. Already at the age of three, Alexander began to compose his own melodies and sing.
In the early 1990s, the whole family moved to Norway permanently. There, Alexander began to professionally engage in musical training and entered the Barat Douai Institute of Music. He studied new compositions for many hours every day and soon began performing at concerts with his family and friends, musicians. In 2011, Alexander graduated from the Institute of Music and received a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Sasha was brought up on his love for folk, chamber and classical music. Mozart became his favorite composer. But the boy liked not only the classics. He admired Sting, The Beatles and jazz musicians.
After arriving in Oslo, Alexander made his debut in one of the musicals directed by the famous group A-ha. Then he went on tour and visited several European countries, China and America. Rybak performed on stage with many famous performers. The famous violinist P. Zuckerman was delighted with his talent, hard work and love for music.
Creative career
In the early 2000s, Rybak took part in the Norwegian Idol competition for young performers, but did not reach the final. A year later, he tried his hand again, but in another Norwegian music competition - "Kjempesjansen". This time he won, performing the jazz composition "Foolin", and won the recognition and love of the audience.
The director of one of the largest theaters located in the capital of Norway, invited the young musician to take part in the play "Fiddler on the Roof". The debut was brilliant, Rybak was awarded the most prestigious prize in Norway - the Hedda Award.
In 2008 Alexander wrote his famous song "Fairytale" and applied to participate in the national selection for Eurovision. The audience voted for the talented singer. In 2009 he went to Moscow to represent his country in the competition.
For the first time in the history of Eurovision, Rybak scored the highest number of points and took first place with the song "Fairytale". The composition became the main hit in Europe and Russia, took the first line in the charts of Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Sweden, Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands. Rybak recorded the album "Fairytales", which was released in many European countries. In Norway, it went three times platinum.
After winning the competition, Alexander went on a world tour and performed in Sweden, Finland, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, England, and the USA. He also took part in numerous television shows.
A year later, Rybak was awarded the Norwegian Spellemann of the Year music award, an analogue of the Grammy award. During the same period, the musician was invited to Russia, where he was awarded the Russian MUZ awards.
After a while, Alexander took part in the filming of the film "Johan: The Wanderer Child", and also voiced one of the characters in the animated films "How to Train Your Dragon" and "How to Train Your Dragon 2". For the second cartoon, Rybak composed a song and sent it to the American company Dreamworks Animation.
The composition literally delighted the representatives of the company. They signed a contract with the musician to use it as a soundtrack for the second part of the animation. True, the song did not get into the picture in all countries due to the fact that Dreamworks Animation did not have time to include it in the US premiere.
Musician projects
In 2011 Rybak launched his new project with master classes for young musicians, including training seminars and a concert with the participation of young talents. The project was a great success not only in Norway, but also in Sweden, Turkey and America.
In 2014 Rybak wrote compositions for the participants of the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest from Malta and Belarus. Unfortunately, the singer from Malta Franklin Kalley and the group from Belarus "Milki" did not pass the selection and could not get into the song contest. Alexander continues to cooperate with the "Milki" collective and plans to perform with them at concerts.
A year later, the musician took part in the Norwegian performance "Soot Spelet", where he played the role of the famous violinist Ole Bull. In addition, he realized his dream and published his own children's book "The Troll and the Magic Violin", which is accompanied by three CDs with his musical songs and compositions.
In 2018, the singer was again honored to represent Norway at Eurovision, but this time he was only able to take fifteenth place.
Currently Rybak continues to write music and books, give recitals, shoot video clips, and work with the Norwegian Youth Symphony Orchestra as an accompanist. What the singer's fees and income are today is unknown.
Not everyone knows that performers do not receive cash prizes from the organizers of the competition for winning Eurovision. They are awarded only a crystal microphone statuette, which will be handed over to the new winner next year.
Participation in the competition gives young performers the opportunity to declare themselves, demonstrate their talent, attract the attention of the public and gain popularity not only in their homeland, but throughout the world. Winning Eurovision also gives the right to hold the next competition in the country from which the winner competed.
