Countdown to Eurovision 2017 - Ukraine's entry for 2013

Zlata Ognievych represented Ukraine in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with her song Gravity, which placed third.

Zlata Ognevich made her first attempt to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine in 2010 with a song called "Tiny Island" which placed fifth in the run-up. That year Alyosha represented Ukraine with a song called Sweet People, and placed 10th.

In 2011 Zlata made her second unsuccessful attempt to represent Ukraine, this time with a song in the Ukrainian language, called "The Kukushka." She placed second in the run-up, losing out to Mika Newton who represented Ukraine with a song called Angel, which took 4th place in Eurovision 2011.

Ognevich was born in 1986 in Murmansk to Ukrainian parents. She grew up in the Crimean city of Sudak, in the south of Ukraine. Five months after the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia, Ognevich called the annexation "a very painful tragedy" and stated that her parents, who continue to live in Crimea, would not obtain Russian citizenship.

Ognevich currently resides in Kyiv, where she has lived since age 18. She moved there to pursue a higher music education, and graduated from the Rheingold M. Glière Music College.

During her third year at Rheingold she began working with live bands and did her own promotional work.

She’s since been quite productive as well as patriotic. Her many musical recordings include her own version of Ukraine's national anthem "Shche ne vmerla Ukraina" released in 2014.

That fall, she took a run at politics. In October 2014 she was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine), where she focused on cultural issues and intellectual property. A year later, she resigned, thoroughly disillusioned with politics.

In 2013, Zlata Ognevich co-hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Ukrainian national broadcaster Timur Miroshnychenko. Timur will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv on May 13th.

Here is Zlata Ognevich with her 2013 Eurovision entry, Gravity.




To hear about all of Ukraine's top ten place finishes in Eurovision, check out the podcast of the April 29th, 2017 Vancouver edition of Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio here.