Nina Sampermans (; born 1993), known professionally as Ravvel, is a Belgian singer and songwriter. She is known for her work with, among others,

Broiler Breed broiler is any chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaug ...

Hooverphonic Hooverphonic is a Belgian electronic band that was formed in October 1995. Though originally categorized as a trip hop group, they quickly expanded their sound to the point where it could no longer be described as a belonging to a single genre, ...

and

Gjon's Tears Gjon Muharremaj (; born 29 June 1998), known professionally as Gjon's Tears or Kev Bush due to his performance style being similar to "Kate Bush", is a Swiss singer and songwriter. He was scheduled to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Son ...

Early life and education

Sampermans was born in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

in 1993 to a sound engineer and a music teacher. In 2016, she graduated from the Codarts University for the Arts in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Career

Sampermans began her career as a songwriter in 2011. In early 2012, Walter Mannaerts, and she submitted the song " Would You?" to '' Eurosong 2012: Een song voor Iris'', the Belgian preselection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki song), Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki, El ...

. The song was chosen by VRT to compete in the final, and was ultimately selected to represent

Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Belgium was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Would You?" written by Ravvel, Nina Sampermans, Jean Bosco Safari and Walter Mannaerts. The song was performed by Iris (singer), Iris, who was internally selected by the F ...

with 53% of the televote. In late 2014 and early 2015, she broke through as a singer with the single " Wild Eyes", which she had recorded with the Norwegian electronic music duo

. The single peaked at the top of the

VG-lista VG-lista is the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from Norwegian and international artists. It is presented weekly in the newspaper ''Verdens Gang, VG''. The data is collected by Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Soundscan Inte ...

and at number 4 in the Flemish Ultratop Singles Chart. One year later, Sampermans became one of the three lead singers of the Belgian band

during their '' In Wonderland'' tour. Following the cancellation of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2020 The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 was planned to be the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It would have taken place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's victory at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. This w ...

, Dutch composer Wouter Hardy and she co-wrote the song " Tout l'univers" for the Swiss representative

at a songwriting camp in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. The song was selected by a professional jury to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. At Eurovision, the entry finished in third place with 432 points; Switzerland's best placement since 1993.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Uncredited lead vocals

Songwriting discography

Eurovision Song Contest entries

References

{{Authority control 1994 births Living people 21st-century Belgian musicians 21st-century Belgian women musicians Belgian women singers Belgian singer-songwriters Belgian women singer-songwriters Belgian songwriters Musicians from Antwerp Codarts University for the Arts alumni