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Alsou Ralifovna Abramova (TatarCyrillic: Алсу Рәлиф кызы Абрамова, Latin: Alsu Rälif qızı Abramova, Russian: Алсу́ Рали́фовна Абрамова, néeSafina, better known as just Alsou (Алсу́, born on June 27, 1983[1]) is a popular singer from Russia. She competed in Eurovision Song Contest 2000 in which she came in second place giving her recognition all over Europe as well[2]. Alsou hosted the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 held in Moscow.
When Alsou was a year old her family moved from Tatarstan to Siberia. Until the age of 8, she lived with her grandparents in Siberia.[1] At 5 years old Alsou asked her parents for a piano. She was then allowed to attend a private music school. After living in Moscow due to her father's business, she then moved to New York City and later to the UK where she entered a private architecture college. While living in London Alsou visited Russia often.
In 1998, at the wedding of her brother Marat which was celebrated on the bank of the Moskva River, Alsou sat at the grand piano and sang I Will Always Love You. After this private performance her family began to persuade her to pursue a professional singing career.
Beginning of musical career
At the age of 15 Alsou was introduced to music manager Valeriy Belotserkovskiy. She again performed "I Will Always Love You" and impressed the manager. He began work with Alsou the next day. Her debut Russian album was the self titled Alsou (Russian: Алсу́) was released September 16, 1999. It was very successful in Russia and spawned 3 singles: "Zimniy Son" ("Winter Dream") "Vesna" ("Spring"), "Inogda" ("Sometimes"). After the huge success of Alsou's debut Russian album she was signed to Universal Music Russia and became its first domestic artist.
In 2000, Alsou recorded her first English language single "Solo" and was entered into the Eurovision Song Contest 2000, eventually finishing second overall. "Solo" went on to sell 100,000 copies and became the biggest selling single of all time in Russia, surpassed only by her next single, a duet with Enrique Iglesias entitled "You're My #1". `I really enjoyed performing with him in Kremlin and I hope our paths will cross again`.
After her success in Eurovision 2000, Alsou began a large-scale tour of Russia. She celebrated her 17th birthday by performing in her native town of Bugulma, where 86,000 of the 120,000 population gathered in the main square to see her.
Alsou performed "Solo" again at Congratulations, the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2005.
English career
During 2000–2001, Alsou began working on her debut English album also called Alsou, which was released in Russia on June 28, 2001. It was also released in Germany, Norway, Poland, the Czech Republic and Malaysia.
The lead single "Before You Love Me" was released in the UK on April 30, 2001, soon after charting at #1 on MTV Select and several TV appearances by Alsou. However, it only managed to chart at a disappointing #27 in the UK. Later that year it was released in Germany and Australia.
A follow-up single, "He Loves Me", was released only in Germany on October 15, 2001, with limited success.
The album was cancelled in the UK, though released trrough 2001-2002 in several European contries and Malaysia.
Between number albums
Alsou's debut Russian album was re-released twice - in 2001 and 2002, spawning two singles - "Osen" ("Autumn") and "Kogda Lubov Ko Mne Pridiot" ("When Love Comes To Me").
In the summer of 2002, Alsou began a tour of the former Soviet countries. Her new video for an up-and-coming single "Letyashaya Nad Oblakami" ("Flying Over The Clouds") was shown in Russian cinemas before the Russian romantic movie Atlantida. Alsou had recorded two songs for the movie.
Trilogy and 19
In August 2002 more studio sessions began for a second Russian longplay. Alsou was also preparing for her concerts in Moscow at the same time. The "Trilogy" project was deemed by the local papers as one of the most "important social and cultural events". The uniqueness of the "Trilogy" idea was that no one singer in the world had ever given three completely different performances during a period of only 10 days.
The first show was held in the "Rossiya" concert hall, where Alsou performed her old set entitled "Alsou And Her Authors", which had never been presented in Moscow before. The second show was an exclusive orchestral concert in Tchaikovsky Hall, where there are only 1,500 seats. The third show was a Euro pop show entitled "Solo". It was held in the Olympic Sport Complex and contained new Russian and English songs, with a fantasy-oriented set. After the third show, Alsou shot a video for the song "Vchera" ("Yesterday").
On January 23, 2003, Alsou released her new Russian album entitled 19. The CD was received well by critics, and by April 2003 the sales had reached 500.000 copies. 19 spawned such singles as "Vsyo Ravno" ("Anyway"), "Vchera" ("Yesterday"), "Perviy Raz" ("The First Time"), "Mechty" ("Dreams") feat. Karl Frierson (mixed by Pit Baumgartner from De Phazz), "Letyashaya Nad Oblakami" ("Flying Over The Clouds") and "Etkey" ("Father", a Tatarstan single).
After success of 19, she was nominated for the First National Music Award, "Muz-TV". On June 5, 2003, after arriving in Moscow from working in foreign studios, Alsou unexpectedly found herself the winner of the "Best Female Artist" nomination. The voting was held all over Russia, and Alsou could not stop the tears of joy.
Second English album
For almost four years, Alsou worked on her second English album 'Inspired'. It was recorded in London and Los Angeles. The lead single, "Always On My Mind", was written by Alsou and Morten Schjolin. The video was shot in May 2004 by well-known director Joseph Kahn. At the beginning of 2005, the single premiered on Capital FM and became the best news single of the week. However, despite the heavy UK promotion, a sexy video, touring as a support act with boybandWestlife, and performing in the London club G.A.Y., the commercial single was cancelled by Alsou's UK label Mercury Records, though physical copies were available for a short time. Inspired remains unreleased.
Alsou is credited on most of the tracks recorded for Inspired. The album was produced by several of the industry's best producers including Rhett Lawrence and Bass Bros. Inspired features a cover version of Lionel Richie's "Hello". Another well-circulated track is the Nelly-featured "Wish I Didn't Know", though only a rough demo has leaked. The album is more guitar-flavored than Alsou's previous works. Originally it was intended to record the album with mostly ballads, but then the album's direction changed.
In 2006 she recorded a wedding song, "Miracles", written by Alsou and her then-future husband Yan. It was released as a limited single for the guests of the wedding.
The Main Thing and Tugan Tel
Alsou's third Russian album Samoe Glavnoe ("The Main Thing"), her first LP in 5 years, was released March 31, 2008 by Universal Music Russia. The singles from this album are "Nebo" ("Sky", released back in 2005), "Samoe Glavnoe" ("The Main Thing", 2006, the video was shot when she was pregnant though it is not visible), "A u moei ljubvi" ("And My Love Has...", 2007, shot in Nevada desert and directed by Alan Calzatti). During 2008 Alsou recorded an album in Tatar language as well. Released in the fall and named Tugan Tel / Rodnaya Rech ("The Native Speech"), the album includes several tatar peoples' songs, others written specially for Alsou, some tatar music instruments and a choir. All proceeds were given by Alsou and Universal Music for a sponsorship of talented orphans from Tatarstan.
Non-musical work
In June 2004, Alsou performed in the British mystical thriller Spirit Trap with Billie Piper, Luke Mably, Emma Catherwood and Sam Troughton.[3] The film premiered in August 2005. Alsou's powerful self-written ballad "Teardrops" plays over the credits. The film got basically poor reviews and small returns at the box office, though it was soon released on DVD. A release of her second motion picture is awaited in 2008 - earlier in 2006 she starred in Russian historical drama "Vivat, Anna!" from a cycle of films about Russian monarchy. She also recorded a song for the movie, a melody from which serves as 1st track (Intro) of "Samoe Glavnoe".
Future plans
Alsou is currently recording a jazz album in Russian and selecting a song for a possible future single. She has presented the final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The hosts are normally required to translate monologue in French, to which she demonstrated quite fluently for the event. [4]
Personal life
On March 18, 2006 Alsou married Yan Abramov, a millionaire, who comes from a Mountain Jewish family. Yan allegedly proposed to her with a fireworks display. On September 7, 2006 Alsou gave birth to a 7lb daughter named Safina at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.[1] The name for the girl was chosen by Yan. It is spelled the same as Alsou's maiden name, but with the accent falling on the second syllable, making that the only pronunciation difference (Alsou's maiden name is pronounced with the accent falling on the first syllable). On April 29, 2008 Alsou gave birth to another daughter named Mikella.
Awards
Before Alsou turned 18, she had already achieved great success and was honored several times.
Livin' on a Prayer (2003, a duet with Bon Jovi recorded for the Russian edition of their album This Left Feels Right and released to Russian radio stations, but then cancelled).
How High the Moon (2005, a guest appearance with Sting, Richie Sambora and Joss Stone, released worldwide on Les Paul's album American Made World Played).
