This year's Ukrainian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest will undoubtedly go down in the history books as complicated. Initially, Ukraine would be represented by Vasyl Lazarovych at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Just two days before the European Broadcasting Union's official deadline to enter songs for the competition, a new national final was held, and was won by Alyosha with the song To Be Free. Less than 24 hours before the EBU's official deadline to enter songs, it was discovered that this song did not meet the rules of the contest, since it already appeared on an album in 2008.
Ukrainian public broadcaster, NTU, then informed the EBU that they were unable to deliver a complete entry. As this was in breach of the rules of the competition, the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest decided to impose a regulatory fine, and an additional fine for every next day after the deadline that no entry had been received by the EBU.
Finally, it was decided that Ukraine would send Sweet People by Alyosha and that was the decision they stood by. Check out her video below and their first national final in our ESCTV player!
Who is she?
Alyosha (Olena Kucher) was born on May 14th, 1986 in Zaporozhie. Since childhood she demonstrated a love for music: since the 5th form she sang in a school choir and since the age of 15 she attended the Yunost studio.
When she became 18, Alyosha dared for major changes in her life. She moved to Kyiv and got enrolled to the Kyiv National University of Culture and Art, Faculty of Pop Vocal. At the same time she opened her own recording studio together with some friends.
Alyosha is the author of many hits for popular singers. She worked at Fabrika Zvesd (Star Factory) as a vocal teacher, back-vocalist, sound producer, author and composer. She collaborated with Potap & Nastia Kamenskih, Natasha Mogelivskaya, Irina Bilyk, Alina Grosu and Ani Lorak.
In 2008, Alyosha signed a contract with the production centre Catapult Music, which gave her life a sudden new swing. Alyosha filmed a clip to the song Sneg - this track was put on hot rotation on all radio channels. The singer’s first album (recorded in English) was also released in the USA.
She'll perform eighth in the second Semi-Final on the 27th of May in Oslo, Norway.
