Marija Naumova
Marija Naumova |
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Marija Naumova (born June 23 1973, in Latvia), is a Latvian singer. Under the stage name Marie N, she sings a broad range of music ranging from pop, through musical theatre jazz, and has recorded several albums, with songs in Latvian, French, English, Russian and Portuguese. In 2002 she brought Latvia victory from the Eurovision Song Contest with her song I Wanna.
Naumova was discovered by famous Latvian musicians[who?] in 1994 and after a year she performed on TV in searches for talent. She never won, but was noticed by the audience.
In 1998, she performed in a concert celebrating the 100 years jubilee of George Gershwin. In March 1998 she performed on stage in concerts with famous Latvian musicians, and one of those concerts was recorded on CD. That gave her career a boost and she began to participate in several music events, television and radio shows, and give interviews for Latvian newspapers.
Naumova's first solo album, which was completely in Russian, was released in 1999. In 2000 Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Naumova was in the national finals but she became second behind Brainstorm. In 2001 she participated in the Latvian preselection again, singing Hey boy follow me, which was voted public favourite but wasn't chosen by the expert jury. Naumova had to wait another year before she finally was chosen to represent Latvia with I Wanna, for which she also wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics.
In the 2002 Eurovision, her performance of I Wanna wowed the voters at the contest, not only with a boppy tune but with Naumova gradually stripping down from a gender-bending white suit and hat through several configurations into a long red dress, and indulging in flirtatious dancing with her dancers of both sexes.
According to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, despite its success at the contest, I Wanna gained the dubious distinction of being the first Eurovision winner that was not released outside of its own territory. Even in Latvia the single never even reached the top 30. [1]
In November of her victory year she recorded two new solo albums: one in English, and one in Latvian. She presented the albums to the audience by a tour throughout Latvia.
Naumova co-hosted the 2003 Eurovision along with Renars Kaupers of the Latvian band Brainstorm, who came 3rd in the contest in 2000.
In 2004 Marie N successfully combined her singer’s and actress’s talent, in the main role of the musical “The Sound of Music”.
In December Marie N’s latest album “On my own” was released, with songs in Latvian, French, English and Portuguese language. New compositions for Marie N are composed by Sergey Manoukyan, Ivar Must and Andrejs Jevsjukovs. Marie N has written several songs herself, as well. There are cover versions of several world-famous songs in the album – for example, two compositions which were originally written in French, but became very popular in English language. Marie N has been enchanted by French language once more, that’s why the legendary song “Nocturne” of Latvian composer Aleksandrs Kublinskis will resurrect in a new arrangement and lyrics.
Marija Naumova has a law degree from the University of Latvia. In 2005 she was chosen as the UNICEF goodwill envoy to Latvia.
In 2004 Marie N successfully combined her singer’s and actress’s talent, in the main role of the musical “The Sound of Music”.
References
- ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
External links
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