Ruslan Fyodorovich Alekhno (, ; born October 14, 1981) is a Belarusian-Russian singer who rose to popularity after winning ''

Narodniy Artist ''People's Artist'' () was a Russian Reality competition, music competition television series, based on the popular British reality television series ''Pop Idol''. It was produced by Rossiya 1, RTR in association with FBI Music and FremantleMedia. ...

– 2'', the Russian version of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

''. Alekhno received the Medal of Francysk Skaryna in 2019.

Early life

Ruslan Alekhno was born in October 14, 1981, in

Babruysk Babruysk (, ) or Bobruysk (, ; , ) is a city in Mogilev Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Babruysk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is situated on the Berezina, Berezina River. Bab ...

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

now

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. Alekhno grew up in a

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

family, his father was a military officer. Although Alekhno only has one younger brother, he grew up alongside a total of 23 cousins. As a child, Alekhno was interested in music and took classes to play bayan and trumpet. When he was 16, Alekhno wrote his first musical composition. The role of the only spectator and critic as well was given to his mother.Ruslan Alekhno official biography on Eurovision Song Contest site
Retrieved January 25, 2010. Alekhno graduated the Babruysk State Auto-Transport College with a degree in transport planning. Subsequently, he was drafted into the Belarusian army. During his service, he was invited to become part of the Belarusian Armed Forces Academic Song and Dance Ensemble after one of the solists had heard his singing voice at an evening activity. Alekhno stayed into the Ensemble for four years, before decided to leave the army to pursue a solo career in music.

Career

Early career

In 2001, Ruslan Alekhno was the winner of the Belarusian TV project ''Hit-Moment'', and in 2003 he was the winner in "Clear Voice" nomination at the "Crossroads of Europe Festival" in Belarus and was also the laureate of "Molodechno-2003" vocal contest in Belarus. In 2004, he also won the second prize in the International Malvy Festival in Poland. In 2005, together with Aleksey Goman, winner of ''

– 1'', he was the prize winner of Festival of Patriotic songs with "This is my Homeland", devoted to Victory anniversary. Ruslan Alekhno won the Russian TV project ''

– 2'' (in Russian ''Народный артист – 2'', translated as ''People's Artist – 2'', the Russian version of

). Upon his victory, he released his first studio album ''Rano ili pozdno'' (Sooner or later) in 2005.

Eurovision 2008

In 2008, Ruslan Alekhno became the winner of National Television Musical project ''EuroFest'', the Belarusian annual competition to decide who would sing for the Republic of Belarus at 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 ...

. Emerging as the victor, he went on to represent Belarus in the

2008 Eurovision Song Contest 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 ...

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 ...

, Serbia. Alekhno sang in the second semi-final elimination round on May 22, 2008, singing " Hasta la Vista", but failed to qualify to the final.

2008-present

In 2012, Alekhno began a new creative phase, recording new songs and working on a new show. His new song "Ne zabyt'" was in rotation on radio stations, and a new video was released, as well as his next single "My ostanemsya". In May 2013, he released album of war songs ''Nasledie'', which included the famous Russian songs of the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

. According to Ruslan, his new album is a tribute to all veterans of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Ruslan dedicates it to all grandparents, who fought against fascism. On May 26, 2013, International Academy of Public Recognition presented Ruslan Alekhno with the Award "For contribution to the development of Russian culture." In 2014, Alekhno released the single "Serdtse iz stekla" featuring Russian singer

Valeriya Alla Yurievna Perfilova (; born April 17, 1968), known by her stage name Valeriya (), is a Russian singer and fashion model. A recipient of the titles People's Artist of Russia (2013) and People's Artist of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republi ...

. Its music video was released in Spring 2014. In 2015, Alekhno won the TV show " Odin v odin!", the Russian version of "

Your Face Sounds Familiar ''Your Face Sounds Familiar'' ( Spanish: ''Tu cara me suena'') is a Spanish interactive reality television franchise series where celebrity contestants impersonate singers. The format, similar to Dutch television series '' Soundmixshow'', was ...

". Alekhno performed in a concert for Russian troops in Syria at new year 2016. In 2019, he participated in ''

The Voice of Russia Voice of Russia (), commonly abbreviated VOR, was the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service from 1993 until 2014, when it was reorganised as Radio Sputnik. Its interval signal was a chime version of 'Majestic' chorus from ...

''. During the Blind Auditions, he sang

Jaak Joala Jaak Joala (26 June 1950 – 25 September 2014) was an Estonian singer, musician and a member of two bands: Kristallid and Virmalised. He began as a flautist, later adding singing and bass guitar. Biography Early life Jaak Joala was born i ...

's "Podberu muzyku" and did not manage to let any of the coaches turn. One of the coaches,

Konstantin Meladze Konstantin Shotayevich Meladze (; ka, კონსტანტინე მელაძე; born 11 May 1963) is a Georgian-born Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer. He is the older brother of singer Valery Meladze and co-founder and co-pro ...

, called Alekhno a "restaurant singer, who you listen to when you are drunk", causing a stir in the Belarusian media. Alekhno later said that he was happy that he did not pass the audition phase and he had little interest in the show. He admitted getting onto the show purely for the fee that Channel One had offered for his participation and said that the producers of the show had been trying to get him to participate for multiple seasons straight.

Awards

*2000 Winner of contest "Viva Victory" *2001 First Prize at the International Competition in Poland *2001 Grand Prix of the International Contest of patriotic songs Russia *2002 Laureate of the Belarusian Song and poetry *2003 Second Prize at the "Golden Hit" *2003 "Clear Voice" reward at festival "Crossroads of Europe" *2004 Second Prize of the International Festival of "Mallow" (Poland) *2004 Winner of the TV channel Russia contest "People's Artist – 2" *2005 First Prize of the All-Russian competition of patriotic songs *2013 The Award "For contribution to the development of Russian culture" *2015 Winner of the TV show "Odin v Odin!" *2019 Award of Francysk Skaryna *2021 Honored Artist of the Republic of Belarus *2022 "Chanson of the Year" Award *2022 "Song of the Year" Award

Personal life

Ruslan Alekhno was in a relationship with actress Irina Medvedeva between 2004 and 2011, being married 2009–2011. In 2016, Ruslan married again. His second wife is Yulia Alekhno. On 2017-03-31 a daughter Varvara was born from this marriage. Alekhno is an Eastern Orthodox believer. He prays every day and vows to go to mass every single Sunday. Although he was initially reluctant to speak about the

2020-2021 Belarusian protests The symbol , known in Unicode as hyphen-minus, is the form of hyphen most commonly used in digital documents. On most keyboards, it is the only character that resembles a minus sign or a dash, so it is also used for these. The name ''hyphen-min ...

, Alekhno later took part in the anti-protest song "Lyubimuyu ne otdayut". He however refused to reveal on whom he had voted during the

2020 Belarusian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August. Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was announced by the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Central Election Commissi ...

. Alekhno is considered to be part of the inner circle of

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

and was seen celebrating New Year's Eve with him in 2020. Alekhno criticised artists withdrawing from and boycotting the 2021

Slavianski Bazaar The International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk", also known as Slavic Bazaar, is an annual festival held in Vitebsk, Belarus under the auspices of the Belarusian Government since 1992. Its main program is devoted to Slavic music. ...

Discography

Albums

*''Rano ili Pozdno'' (Sooner Or Later) (2005) *''Hasta La Vista'' (2008) *''Nasledie'' (Heritage) (2013) *''Ruslan Alehno'' (2015) *''Ya Podaryu Tebe Lyubov'' (I'll Give You My Love) (2017) *''Moya Dusha'' (My Soul) (2019)

Music Videos

*2005: "Neobyknovennaya" – Trio with Alexey Chumakov and Aleksandr Panayotov *2007: "Serdtse Zemli Moyei" – Duet with Irina Dorofeeva *2008: "Hasta La Vista" *2012: "Ne Zabyt" *2013: "Lyubimaya" *2014: "Heart of Glass" – Duet with

*2017: "Spasibo" (Thanks) — OST of movie Red Dog *2017: "Samaya Milaya" — Duet with Yaroslav Sumishevsky *2018: "Samaya-Samaya" (You're the most) *2019: "My Zhivyom" (We're living)

Singles

*2005: "Neobiknovennaya" (Необыкновенная, Unusual Girl) – Trio with Alexey Chumakov and Aleksandr Panayotov *2007: "Serdtse Zemli Moyei" (Сердце Земли Моей, Heart of my Land) (duet with Irina Dorofeeva) *2008: " Hasta la Vista" *2009: "Mroja" (Dream) *2012: "Ne Zabyt'" (Не Забыть, Can't Be Forgotten) *2012: "My Ostanemsya" (Мы Останемся, We'll stay) *2013: "Lyubimaya" (Любимая, Beloved) *2014: "Serdtse Iz Stekla" (Сердце Из Стекла, Heart Of Glass") (feat

)

References

External links

* *
Ruslan Alekhno Eurovision 2008 page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alekhno, Ruslan Belarusian pop singers 1981 births 21st-century Belarusian male singers Living people People from Babruysk Moscow State Art and Cultural University alumni People's Artist (TV series) winners Eurovision Song Contest entrants