Evelin Samuel (born 13 May 1975) is an Estonian singer, songwriter, musical theater performer, author of children's books and participant in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Career

Evelin Samuel has been singing since childhood and was even recorded by the studios of Eesti Raadio at a very early age. In the late 1980s, Evelin joined the children's musical theatre Colombina whom she performed with at the 1992

Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. In 1993, she finished 4th at ''Kaks takti ette'', a contest for debutant singers, organized by Eesti Televisioon. The same year, she won the Baltic song contest ''Via Baltica'' and a year later she won again with "''Vari ja roos''" at Uus Laul, a song contest organized by Eesti Televisioon. In 1997 and 1999, Evelin Samuel took part in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

while 2002 saw the release of her debut album ''Alternature: Over The Water Blue''. In the late 1990s, she was also a DJ at the popular Raadio Uuno. Evelin has also been singing dance music on ferries on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

for several years. In 2015, Samuel ran for the general parliamentary elections for the political party Isamaa but was not elected.

Writing

In 2008, Evelin Samuel introduced her debut book release, ''Ükskord, kui sadas vihma'' (''Once When It Was Raining''), a fantasy story for little children. Since then, she has written a number of songs, poems and short stories, all for children. In 2010, Evelin Samuel became the editor-in-chief of the popular health magazine ''Tervis Pluss'', a post she held for a year. She's also a columnist.

Eurovision Song Contest

Evelin Samuel attempted to enter the

in 1994 (with three songs) and 1996 (with two songs) but did not succeed until 1997, when she took the stage as one of the backing vocalists for the Estonian entry, " Keelatud maa", performed by Maarja-Liis Ilus, which ended up in eighth place. She came back to Eurolaul, the estonian selection for the

, in 1998 with two songs and finished as Runner up with "Unistus igavesest päevast", only three points behind the winner. In the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest, held in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, she represented Estonia with the song " Diamond of Night" alongside the violinist Camille, finishing in sixth place. The lyrics for the song were written by Maian-Anna Kärmas, who was a backing vocalist in the entry. This was the first ever time an entry that was not sung in Estonian had ever represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest. Evelin has tried to enter Eurovision in 2000, but she was not selected. However, in 2000 and 2006 Evelin was the spokesperson for the Estonian televote results at the Eurovision. Samuel entered Eesti Laul 2022 with her song "Waterfall", which qualified from the first quarterfinal but was eliminated in the semi-final.

Musical Theatre

In 2001, Evelin Samuel was cast to play the role of

Fantine Fantine (French pronunciation: ) is a fictional character in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. She is a young ''Grisette (person), grisette'' in Paris who is impregnated by a rich student. After he abandons her, she is forced to look ...

in the musical ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

'' in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

but had to cancel her participation for personal reasons in the middle of the rehearsals. Still, a couple of years later, she earned good reviews for her portrayal of Nancy in '' Oliver!'' in Tallinn and went on to play in the musical ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a sung-through musical theatre, stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madama Butterfly'', and similarly tells th ...

'' in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. She was also a member of the company of

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

in 1993.

Personal life

In 2016, Samuel married pianist Johan Randvere. The couple have one daughter, Marta, born in 2019, and she has two sons, Oskar and Torsten from a previous relationship with a journalist Raimo Ülavere. Since 2019, she has been often credited as Evelin Samuel-Randvere.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Evelin 1975 births Living people 21st-century Estonian women singers Estonian pop singers Estonian women pop singers Estonian children's writers Estonian women children's writers English-language singers from Estonia Estonian musical theatre actresses 20th-century Estonian women singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants