Poli Genova
Poli Genova rose to fame as member of the group BonBon, which would later represent Bulgaria at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. With her entry in the national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, she moved Beyoncé to tears. Her 2011 song winning the national final in Bulgaria is called Na Inat.For the 2009 Bulgarian national final, Poli received a wildcard with the song One Lifetime Is Not Enough. Eventually she finished second in the final after landslide-winner Krassimir Avramov, singing Illusion.
Before the 2009 Bulgarian final, Beyoncé heard Poli's One Lifetime Is Not Enough by coincidence. The American singer couldn't hold back her tears when listening to the song, according to Bulgarian news portal News.bg.
Poli Genova won the hearts of the spectators and the jury at the Bulgarian finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with her song Na Inat ("Defiance"). It seems that the charismatic title of the song enchanted the audience. Na Inat spread the wings of her long-awaited victory in Bulgaria, and now she hopes that it will help her win the hearts of the music fans in Düsseldorf.
“My dream to represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest came true! I dreamt of being on the great stage, meeting new people, my colleagues from across Europe. That was my dream!” Poli Genova announced for the website avtora.com after she won a landslide victory at the Bulgarian national final.
Na Inat was composed by Borislav Milanov, the British Sebastian Arman, the Austrian David Bronner and Poly Genova.
“The song was created spontaneously, and it is created for this song contest in particular. I had no idea what the song would turn out to be ... I travelled to Vienna and I recorded it four days before the deadline. Now that I think of it, I find the song rather brave,” Genova added.
Poli Genova is a singer who has mustered the courage to compete for the Eurovision Song Contest four times. In 2005 she reached the finals as a member of the band Melody with the song Otkriy Me Sega ("Find Me Now"), written by Boris Chakurov.
She was born on 10th February 1987 in Sofia and started her career of a singer at the age of eight as a member of the children’s vocal ensemble Bon-Bon.
Poli started singing at the age of 4 in the popular children’s vocal ensemble with the National Palace of Children. Later she joined the children’s vocal ensemble Bon-Bon after it was set up in 1995 and thus she started her professional singing career.
Her voice is the trademark of Bon-Bon. For six years, Poly hosted the eponymous Children’s TV show. It was then that she started singing together with such famous Bulgarian pop singers as Georgi Hristov, Yordanka Hristova and Nelly Rangelova. She took part together with Nelly Rangelova and Bon-Bon in the Golden Orpheus Song Contest, and they won the special award of the Bulgarian National Television.
In 1997, Poli travelled with Bon-Bon to Belarus to take part in the international Slavianski Bazaar festival where the children’s ensemble won an award.
Poli graduated from Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music majoring in a clarinet. Simultaneously with pursuing her singing career, she is a student of film production.
Last year, Poli took part in the first edition of the dance TV show Dancing Stars on bTV. It is worth pointing out that soon after she accepted the invitation to be a lead vocalist in the band, the talented singer was invited also to be the assistant producer of the TV show, but she turned down the invitation due to previous arrangements.
Poli Genova has kept in touch with Bon-Bon during all those years. She is currently working on her debut album together with her producer and vocal pedagogue Rozi Karaslavova, who has been leading Poli on her path to success for 14 years now.