Latvia: Former pirate returns for 2011 solo bid

Liene Candy was part of the group Pirates Of The Sea who represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, with the very popular maritime anthem Wolves Of The Sea. The group made it to the Final that year, finishing in a respectable 12th place. Three years later Liene Candy is aiming high and has already made it through to the Latvian national selection semi finals of Eirodziesma 2011.

Early starter in music

It was a very early introduction to music for Liene Candy, she adds "I was only two years old when I first participated in a song contest, it was a very popular Latvian children and youth song contest  My career in the music industry on a more professional level began when I was studying in the Fourth form by taking part in all the possible competitions I could in Latvia, as well as performing in classical music concerts in Lithuania and Slovakia. Although I have always been a lead singer, in 2005 I started playing together with a heavy music band called StoneStep. However, the lifetime of the band was very short lived, as we played together only for two years. The reason for our band splitting up was my desire to keep developing and finding myself in such a music style which defines me."

Remembering the national selection in Latvia in 2008 when Pirates Of The Sea were victorious, Liene Candy recalls "It was rather accidentally that I went to the Eurovision Song Contest together with the pirates. Myself and the leader of the pirates, Roberto participated together in a reality show in 2004 in Latvia, where we became very good friends, a few days after their victory in the Latvian national selection I received his phone call. In reality, only Roberto was a real singer as Aleksandra was more well known as a dancer and the Captain Janis was a world traveller. I agreed to help them out, as it appealed to me to experience the grand Eurovision Song Contest first hand. I was very satisfied with the opportunities I gained in the contest. Moreover, I made many good friends and good contacts. The Belgrade experience was the only time when I performed together with the pirates, as it was very important for me to facilitate my solo career after that."

New collaborations and recent experiences

Since her time in Belgrade, Liene Candy has been keeping herself busy.  In 2009, she began working together with the producer Guntars Racs and this is how the cooperation began regarding another attempt at the Eurovision Song Contest. She adds "Although we had already considered cooperation before, our first project turned out to be Trio Policistas. More precisely, us three independent singers joined together and created a band. This was an interesting project with potential in the future, but our participation in the national selection was unsuccessful.  Throughout these past three years I have spent a lot of time working abroad. In October 2009, I went to Germany where I worked as a lead singer in a variety show Dinner For Fun. I fell in love with Germany and decided to work there more and more. I was lucky to meet a number of agents who involved me in many different projects. At the moment, I spend a lot of time in both Latvia and Germany. The last project I was involved in has not finished yet. Currently I’m in Helsinki performing every night in show progammes together with a Ukrainian ballet troupe called A6 Ballet. With this programme, we also work in Sweden and Ukraine."

Liene Candy has switched her mode of transport from the sea faring to the airborne with her 2011 effort Love Is Like An Aeroplane, and is very positive about, and fond of the song she will sing in the semi finals in Latvia. She states "The authors of the song Love Is Like An Aeroplane are Guntars Racs and Gints Stankevics. This song is very important to me not only because it is my Eurovision song, but also because this is the first year when I am participating in the Latvian national selection as a lead singer. The text of the song highly defines me and I have become very close to the song. The text of the song addresses me directly and indirectly. In a sense, this song describes life as being full of rapids, for example one moment you are on top of the wave, the other moment you are at the bottom of the river. Moreover, the song is also about love. Usually, love is mindless, swift and very painful, but the most important thing is not to give up and believe that is always somewhere around us."

"It would be highly significant for me to win"

Clearly the momentum is buiIding in the coming weeks as the national selection semi final approaches and Liene Candy enthuses "I am very excited about the approaching national selection in Latvia, as this is the first year when I’m participating as a lead singer. But the most important thing for me is to deliver my feelings and energy about this song also to my audience. I love the stage and I love to sing. Every time I’m performing on the stage, I feel like bowing my head and thanking the audience for the opportunity for me to be there. However, this time in the Eurovision Song Contest selection I will perform together with an entirely different setting, with only women on stage. But I hope that my friends from the pirates will support me in the audience!."

Finally, when reflecting on what it would mean to qualify from the semi finals in Latvia and go on to win the national selection, Liene Candy says "It would be highly significant to me to win and I would have reached new summits in my career. I love my country and I have always been very proud of me being Latvian with Lithuanian blood, which I emphasize when being abroad. This year in particular is very exciting for me as far as Eurovision is concerned, purely for the reason that I’m involved in many projects in the host country Germany already where I have lots of friends and acquaintances. If I won the Latvian selection, the honour and responsibilities would be even twice as important to me. More precisely, I would have to take into consideration both the name of my dear Latvia and the name of the country where I have many future plans. But of course those are only wishful predictions and dreams. At the moment, the most important for me is to give all my heart to the Latvian audience and let them listen to my heart. And if there is at least one person who will have managed to feel the same energy I was aiming to deliver, then I will consider myself as a winner no matter what is the result."

Eurovision.tv would like to thank Liene Candy for taking time to talk to us. If you would like to hear her 2011 entry Love Is Like An Aeroplane click on the link above where you can hear that and all of the other Latvian semi finalists for 2011.