Today in 1985, Dmitry Koldun was born in Minsk, Belarus. In 2004, he tried out in the RTR show Narodnyi Artist 2, but did not qualify to the main stage. This did not deter him from his musical interest and in 2004/5 he worked in the State Concert Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus headed by Mikhail Finberg and in the Grand-Prix studio headed by the composer Oleg Eliseenkov who is still Koldun’s business partner. In the same year Koldun took part in the concerts of the National Festival of Belarusian sons and poetry Molodechno-2005 and the Arts Festival Slavyansky Bazar in Vitebsk.
In 2007, he was selected to represent Belarus at the Eurovision Song Contest. His song 'Work your magic' managed to finish high enough to qualify for the final, where he finished in sixth place in a field of 24 competitors.
Rather surprisingly, no Eurovision performer has ever been born on 29 July as far as we know - nor has anyone ever passed away on this date. In that case, there's always the next best thing: a composer. And in 1931 on this day, a very renowned composer was born: Kjell Oddvar Karlsen, a Norwegian band leader, composer, arranger, jazz pianist and organist, with a career spanning more than 60 years. Inspired by the Nat King Cole jazz ensembles from the time of World War II, he started his own orchestra at the age of 16 in 1947, The Syncopators Band, in Sarpsborg, and he soon became a central figure in the local jazz scene. His Kjell Karlsen Orchestra performed the music in the national final of the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix in 1966, 1967 and 1968. Karlsen also was the composer of 'Kom sol, kom regn', which represented Norway in 1962, as performed by Inger Jacobsen.
In 2014, Estonia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest by Tanja Mihhailova-Saar. She was born in Kaliningrad (USSR) on 19 June 1983 and started singing at a very young age, participating in contests in Russia, Ukraine and Estonia. Together with Estonian singer Ly Lumiste she formed Nightlight Duo in 2001. When Lumiste became pregnant in 2004, the duo disbanded and Tanja created the band Jz Belle together with producer and composer Timo Vendt. Tanja competed in the Estonian national final for Eurovision in 2014 and won with the song 'Amazing'. When she participated in the semi-final, she failed to qualify for the final, finishing 12th with just 36 points. Her solo career continued nonetheless. In 2016 she married singer Mikk Saar.
Ivo Linna was instantly famous in Europe thanks to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996 when he represented Estonia together with Maarja-Liis Ilus, singing 'Kaelakee hääl', in the Estonian language. It was a curious couple because of their considerable age difference: Ivo was 46 years old, whereas Maarja-Liis was only 15. He is not an unknown singer in Estonia, having released several albums solo as well as with different Estonian rock acts like Apelsin and Rock Hotel. In 2000, the President of Estonia decorated Ivo Linna with a IV Class Order of the White Star.
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