Ruslana Lyzhychko: Award-Winning Ukrainian Singer, Songwriter, and Activist
1.
2. Ruslana Lyzhychko
(Ukrainian: Руслана
Степанівна Лижичко, born
on 24 May 1973), known
mononymously as Ruslana,
is a World Music Award and
Eurovision Song Contest
winning artist, holding the
title of People's Artist of
Ukraine. She is also a former
MP serving as deputy in the
Ukrainian parliament
(Verkhovna Rada) for the
Our Ukraine Party.
3. Ruslana was the UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador in Ukraine in 2004-2005.
4. She is recognized as the most successful
Ukrainian female solo artist internationally
and was included in the top 10 most
influential women of 2013 by the Forbes
magazine.
5. The U.S. Secretary of State honored her with
the Woman of Courage Award in March
2014. She has been named an honorary
citizen of her hometown L'viv and was
nominated to receive the title Hero of
Ukraine.
6. She is a singer, songwriter, producer,
musical conductor, multi-instrumentalist,
dancer, voice actress and social activist.
She writes, composes and produces her
own songs and music videos.
7. Since 28 December
1995 she has been
married to Oleksandr
Ksenofontov, a
Ukrainian record
producer.Together
they have run the
company Luxen Studio
since 1993, producing
radio and film trailers.
8. Ruslana was the first artist coming out from the former
Soviet Union to officially receive a platinum disc, her
Dyki tantsi album selling more than 170,000 copies in
the first 100 days after its release. This album is the
best selling Ukrainian album to date, together with its
English version, more than 500,000 copies being sold
solely in Ukraine.
9. She won the 2004 Eurovision Song
Contest with the song Wild Dances
receiving 280 points, which at that time
was a record of points.
10. Following her victory, she rose to fame in
Europe and became one of the biggest pop
stars from the Eastern part of the continent. Her
winning song Wild Dances has dominated the
European charts for 97 weeks peaking at
number one in Belgium for 10 consecutive
weeks.
11. Her repertoire
includes songs
performed mainly
in Ukrainian and
English, but she also
recorded cover
versions in Spanish
and Latin
languages.
