Lyudmila Lyubomirova Dyakovska (; born 2 April 1976), better known as Lucy Diakovska (), is a Bulgarian singer and television personality. She rose to prominence as one of the founding members of the all-female pop band
No Angels
No Angels are an all-female Pop music, pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Ludmilla Diakovska, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originat ...
, the "
biggest-selling German girlband to date", according to the German media.
After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, Diakovska released two singles and her solo album ''Lucylicious'' under her same-titled stage name in 2005. In 2008, she became part of the jury on reality shows ''
Music Idol'' and ''
Starmania'', the Bulgarian and Austrian version of the
''Idol'' series respectively, and later joined the jury the German version of ''
Popstars
''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...
'' in 2012.
Early life
Diakovska is the oldest child of Lubomir Diakovski, an opera singer, and Rositza Diakovska, a pianist. Her younger brother named Alexander (b. 1982) is a professional basketball player. Her grandfather is a famous Bulgarian folk composer. Her family moved to Germany.
At the age of six she got her first stage performance at a local opera house and in the following years she trained herself in singing and dancing. After her high school graduation in 1994 Diakovska decided to move to Germany to get trained at the Stage School of Music, Dance and Drama in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. At the same time she worked as a dancer for the musical ''
Buddy'', where she even got hold of a recurring role a little later.
Career
No Angels

Encouraged to chance her luck in the professional music business, Diakovska decided to audition for the 2000 debut of the German reality television program ''
Popstars
''Popstars'' is an international reality television franchise aimed to find new singing talent. Serving as a precursor to the ''Idol'' franchise, '' Popstars'' first began in New Zealand in 1999 when producer Jonathan Dowling formed the girl gr ...
''. She entered the competition with thousands of other women, and the judges,
Simone Angel, Rainer Moslener and Mario M. Mendryzcki, were impressed with her performance in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. She earned a position in the top thirty finalists and immediately travelled to
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...
, Spain to join her competitors for a workshop there. In the end Diakovska made it to the final ten on the show, and during a special episode in November 2000, jury member Moslener disclosed that she was chosen to become part of the final girl group ''No Angels''.
With the final five members of the band in place, ''Popstars'' continued tracking the development and struggles of the group who left homes to move into a shared flat near
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. However, it took another four months until the band released their debut single "
Daylight in Your Eyes
"Daylight in Your Eyes" is the debut single by German girl group No Angels. It was written by Tony Rey (musician), Tony Bruno and Tommy Byrnes and initially recorded by American rock band New Life Crisis. A Tony Moran (DJ), Tony Moran-produced r ...
", which would subsequently appear on the band's debut album ''
Elle'ments
''Elle'ments'' is the debut studio album by German girl group No Angels. It was first released by Polydor–Zeitgeist and Cheyenne Records on 12 March 2001 in German-speaking Europe. After winning the inaugural season of the reality talent conte ...
'' (2001). Both the single and the album became an unexpected but record-breaking success, when both instantly entered the top position on the Austrian, German and Swiss ''
Media Control
The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...
'' singles, albums and airplay charts, making No Angels one of the most successful debuts in years.
In the following years No Angels released another two number-one studio albums, ''
Now ... Us!'' and ''
Pure'', a live album and a successful
swing album branded ''
When the Angels Swing'', totalling twelve singles altogether – including four-number one singles. Eventually selling more than five million singles and albums worldwide, No Angels became the best-selling German girl band to date
and the most successful girl group of
continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...
between the years of 2001 and 2003.
On 5 September 2003, the four remaining members of the band (
Jessica Wahls had left the band following the birth of her first child in February 2003) announced that they would no longer be performing together after three years of continual touring and increasing cases of illness. The release of ''
The Best of No Angels'' in November of the same year marked the end of the band, with each member going their separate ways in early 2004.
Lucy re-joined No Angels who made a powerful revival. In March 2008 they were selected to represent Germany at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Unio ...
finals in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
in May. This is an honour for Lucy. She, however, was not the first Bulgarian to represent Germany in the Eurovision finals. In 1964 this was done by
Nora Nova
Ahinora Kumanova (; 8 May 1928 – 9 February 2022), better known by the stage name of Nora Nova, was a Bulgarian and German singer. She was the first Bulgarian to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. She represented in . itself first p ...
.
Personal life

Diakovska publicly
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
as lesbian during the
fourth season of the Bulgarian reality show ''
VIP Brother
''VIP Brother'' is a Bulgarian reality television game show in which a number of celebrity contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize or collecting money for cha ...
''.
Filmography
Discography
Albums
Singles
Album appearances
* 2004: "The Wish"
* 2005: "Chiquitita"
* 2009: "Ich wart' auf dich, mein Prinz"
* 2010: "High on Life"
References
External links
Official website(archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diakovska, Lucy
1976 births
Living people
English-language singers from Bulgaria
English-language singers from Germany
German musical theatre actresses
Bulgarian stage actresses
Big Brother (Bulgarian TV series) contestants
Bulgarian lesbian musicians
Bulgarian LGBTQ singers
Bulgarian LGBTQ songwriters
Bulgarian women songwriters
German lesbian musicians
German LGBTQ singers
German LGBTQ songwriters
Musicians from Pleven
Bulgarian emigrants to Germany
Naturalized citizens of Germany
Popstars winners
No Angels members
Lesbian songwriters
Lesbian singers
X Factor (Bulgarian TV series)
German women pop singers
Bulgarian pop singers
Bulgarian women pop singers
20th-century Bulgarian women singers
20th-century German women singers
21st-century Bulgarian women singers
21st-century German women singers
20th-century Bulgarian LGBTQ people
21st-century Bulgarian LGBTQ people
20th-century German LGBTQ people
21st-century German LGBTQ people