Ruth Lorenzo Pascual (; born 10 November 1982) is a Spanish singer, composer and television personality, best known in the UK for been the eighth contestant eliminated in the fifth series of the British TV talent show ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' in 2008. She represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

with the song " Dancing In The Rain", scoring 74 points in the final and finishing in 10th place; the song peaked at #5 in the

Spanish Singles Chart Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine ** Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

And also charted in the UK at #100. Artists such as Auryn and

Dannii Minogue Dannii Minogue (; born 20 October 1971) is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. As a child, she became known for her appearances on the television talent show ''Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988). She went on to play the r ...

have included compositions of hers in their albums. Her debut single "

Burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ionizing radiation (such as sunburn, caused by ultraviolet radiation). Most burns are due to heat from hot fluids (called scalding), soli ...

" entered the Spanish Singles Charts and reached number 16 when she released the single on 27 June 2011. She released her first UK single " The Night" on 15 June 2013, featuring a club remix by Almighty. Her debut album ' Planeta Azul' was released on 27 October 2014, with number six single on the Spanish Single Charts ‘Gigantes’. In November 2017 ‘Good Girls Don't Lie’ was released as the first single of her second album 'Loveaholic' (9 March 2018). The song made it to number one iTunes Spain on the first 24 hours. ''Loveaholic'' includes a collaboration of guitarist

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

. She achieved a

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in 2016 for performing in eight different Spanish cities in 12 hours, in a breast cancer awareness charity event.

Early life

Ruth Lorenzo was born on 10 November 1982 in the

Region of Murcia The Region of Murcia (, ; ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in area and had a popul ...

, in south-eastern Spain. At a very young age she became a fan of the musical '' Annie'' and although she had no idea of what the words meant she would sing along to the songs in English. When she was six years old she discovered music by Catalan opera singer

Montserrat Caballé María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch or Folc (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), also known as Montserrat Caballé (i Folch), was a Spanish operatic soprano from Catalonia. Widely considered to be one of the best sopranos ...

, and after her mother bought her an album by Caballé, Lorenzo began to sing opera, imitating Caballé's vocals until she was pitch perfect. At the age of 12, Lorenzo's family moved to

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and this was the first time she had the opportunity to be involved in music at school. After much encouragement from her teachers, Lorenzo was entered into competitions and played lead roles in musical productions such as ''The Phantom of the Opera'' and ''My Fair Lady''. When Lorenzo turned 16 the family returned to Spain and although having had singing lessons by this time, she had to cancel these lessons due to family financial difficulty and as a result Lorenzo gave up on her dream of becoming a recording artist. When Lorenzo was 19 she joined a rock band, which was a challenge for her as she had only sung opera music. She also made a big decision to quit her job in her family's business in order to pursue her dreams once again, but after three years of touring around Spain the group decided to split up. Ruth landed a contract at Polaris World where as well as performing, she worked as a PR consultant.

Career

2008: ''The X Factor''

In 2008, Lorenzo auditioned for the fifth series of ''The X Factor'' in front of judges

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

Cheryl Cole Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. She rose to fame as a member of Girls Aloud, a Pop music, pop girl group created through ITV (TV network), ITV's reality competition show ''Popstars: The R ...

and

Louis Walsh Michael Louis Vincent Walsh (born 5 August 1952) is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan (singer), Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s an ...

. She sang " (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". She impressed the judges and made it through to the next stage of the show, "bootcamp". Lorenzo passed both stages of bootcamp and was sent to St. Tropez with the other successful contestants from the over-25s category. There she auditioned in front of

who was her ''X Factor'' mentor. After an emotional performance of " True Colors", sung in Spanish, Minogue decided to pick Lorenzo for her final three who would proceed to the live shows. On the first live show she sang " Take My Breath Away" in English and Spanish. She had mainly good comments, especially from Cowell, who told her she should sing in Spanish more often. However, the next week Lorenzo sang " I Just Can't Stop Loving You" in English only, and ended up in the bottom two. She performed " Purple Rain" in the singoff, and it saved her into the next week. In Week 5, Lorenzo was in the bottom two again against one of the crowd favourites Laura White. This time she sang "

Knockin' on Heaven's Door "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film '' Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid''. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, ...

" and was saved by Cowell, Minogue and Walsh. Her performance was overshadowed by the uproar over White's departure. Voting statistics revealed that White received more votes than Lorenzo meaning if Walsh sent the result to deadlock, White would’ve been saved. During

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

week, Lorenzo sang " Love Ain't Here Anymore". She received high praise for her performance, with Cowell saying it was sensational. By the quarter-final, Lorenzo was Minogue's last remaining contestant and she was eliminated after receiving the fewest public votes. Lorenzo bowed out with another performance of " Always". Former friend

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the talent television show ''The X Factor'' in 2008. Following the show, she was signed to Syco Music and releas ...

went on to win the show.

Performances on ''The X Factor''

2009–10: After ''The X Factor''

Lorenzo performed at gigs across the UK and Ireland in December 2008 and January 2009. In February and March 2009, she joined the ''X Factor Live'' tour with fellow contestants. She also was nominated for three awards at the Digital Spy Reality TV Awards. Ruth officially confirmed her record deal with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

on May 6 with an interview with Xpose. In 2010, Lorenzo was approached by Spanish TV Channel

Cuatro Cuatro, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4, number 4, may refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), a family of Latin American string instruments, including: ** Cuatro (Venezuela) ** Puerto Rican cuatro * Cuatro (TV channel), a Spanish free-to ...

and asked to write a song for their new fictional drama ''Valientes''. She accepted and composed two songs for the show, one for the opening ("Quiero Ser Valiente") and one for the end credits ("Te Puedo Ver"). Ruth performed "Quiero Ser Valiente" on Friday 22 January on Spanish talent show ''Fama a bailar'' (which was also aired on Cuatro). In July 2010 it was revealed that Lorenzo had written songs for Dannii Minogue's comeback album revealed on Dannii's ITV2 show ''Style Queen''. Lorenzo confirmed in a blog posting that she parted away from

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

due to "creative differences" and that she would continue working on her album as an independent artist. Rurthinscotland

2011–13: ''The Raspberry Pattern''

She signed up to website indiegogo.com where fans helped to fund her debut single. The funding was for airplay, the video shooting, marketing and PR services. The CD version included "

", an acoustic version of the song and "Eternity". The Raspberry Pattern became the name of her band. Lorenzo was booked for more dates around the United Kingdom for the summer and autumn of 2011. Ruth released a free track download titled "The Night" for her Facebook fans in August 2012 which was officially released in June 2013 with a videoclip. On 11 November a lyric video for her single "Love is Dead" was uploaded to Ruth's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. The single was released under the independent H&I Music on digital platforms, including the song "Pain" as a B-side. At the end of 2013 Ruth signed with a new record company, Spanish company Roster Music and unveiled her new website. During 2013 she took part on the ''Celebrities On Ice'' tour in the UK.

2014: ''Planeta Azul'' and Eurovision Song Contest

Her website announced the upcoming release of her first studio album. She left to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to record various tracks for her album, to be titled '' Planeta Azul''. On 20 January,2014

Radiotelevisión Española The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

(RTVE) selected Ruth Lorenzo as one of the potential five candidates to represent Spain at Eurovision Song Contest. Months earlier the ''eurovision-spain.com'' website made a survey known as "La Elección Interna" among Eurovision fans and international juries from thirteen different countries to check who could be the ideal Spanish candidate to represent Spain. Ruth came second in the list among one hundred different Spanish candidates In February the song " Dancing In The Rain" was released as one of the Spanish pre-selection entries for the

. The song was released on 18 February and it became number one on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Spain. On 22 February she won the Spanish national final. Therefore, she represented Spain in the contest with the song " Dancing In The Rain" on 10 May 2014 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark. The song finished 10th during the grand final. Her debut album '' Planeta Azul'' was released on 27 October 2014. The album contains thirteen new songs, and also a new version of " Dancing In The Rain". The release of the album was preceded by the release of its lead single, "Gigantes", on 7 October 2014, which debuted at number six on the

. The official video for the single was released on 22 October.

2015–2016: After Eurovision, ''Tu Cara Me Suena''

In 2015, Lorenzo served as a judge in the Spanish

talent show A talent show or talent contest is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are p ...

''Levántate'' (Spanish version of ''Stand Up for Your Country''), aired on

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...

from 10 February 2015 to 17 March 2015. She also served as a member of the Spanish jury in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

. On 16 October 2015, a special repackage of her debut album '' Planeta Azul'' was released, which includes new tracks and some songs she had recorded previously in English language. One of the new tracks, titled "99", was released as a single on 28 August 2015. On 30 July 2015, Lorenzo was announced to join the cast of the fourth season of spanish version of the television show '' Your Face Sounds Familiar'', in which celebrity contestants impersonate a different iconic music artist on stage each week. The season premiered on 18 September 2015 on Antena 3. In the season finale that took place on 29 January 2016, she was declared winner with 47% of the televote.

Performances on ''Tu Cara Me Suena''

''Voces Tour''

After a short break from television, the artist focused on music, recording her new album between Berlin, Stockholm, Madrid, Barcelona and London. On 14 May, she joined the television show '' Objetivo Eurovisión'' to discuss about the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 and the Spanish candidate. In September 2016, she announced that on 19 October she would achieve a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

with the goal of getting funds breast cancer cause. The record consisted in holding eight concerts in eight different Spanish towns in less than twelve hours (''Un Récord Por Ellas'' - a Guinness Record Award for Women). Ruth Lorenzo Guinnes World Records

At the end of 2016, she started the ''Voces Tour'' touring Spain, visiting some cities as Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Murcia.

2017: Entrepreneurial projects

On 13 October 2017 and after a little break from music industry, Lorenzo released "Good Girls Don't Lie", the first single of her upcoming second studio album ''Loveaholic''. She also worked on a collaborative cover of the Spanish hit song " ¿A quién le importa?", originally performed by Alaska y Dinarama, as the anthem for WorldPride Madrid 2017, with other famous Spanish singers such as

Marta Sánchez Marta Sánchez López (born 8 May 1966) is a Spanish singer. She has sold more than 10 million albums. Biography Marta was born in Madrid, Spain. Her father, Antonio Sánchez Camporro, was an Asturian opera singer. She began her musical car ...

, Rosa López, Vicky Larraz,

La Terremoto de Alcorcón María José Charro Galán, better known under her stage name La Terremoto de Alcorcón or La Terremoto (), and also as Pepa Charro, is a Spanish singer born in Madrid, Spain. She grew up in Alcorcón and studied languages. She went to the Unit ...

, Soraya Arnelas and Nancys Rubias, among others. On 29 September 2017, Lorenzo announced " Good Girls Don't Lie", the first song of ''Loveaholic''. The song was released on the 13 October 2017, reaching number one in sales on the main digital platforms such as

, Google Play Music and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. The song became trending topic on

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during that first weekend, and it also aired on main Spanish radio stations. Soon after that she announced ''The Loveaholic Tour'' for 2018.

Record label: Raspberry Records

After declining an offer from

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

, being part of Roster Music from 2013 and releasing a charity single with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

.Due creative differences, Lorenzo decided to create her own record label, Raspberry Records, and release her music under this label.

White Lion

Lorenzo announced the creation of her own clothing line, White Lion. The name was chosen in homage to the name given to her fans (lions).

2018–2019: ''Loveaholic'', ''La Llamada'', new single, and television projects

Her second album, ''Loveaholic'', was released on 9 March 2018; the album includes a collaboration with

. It peaked at number 9 on the Spanish Albums Chart. In December 2018, Lorenzo debuted in musical theatre with the role of God in ''La Llamada'', at the Teatro Lara in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. On March 29, 2019, she performed at the sold out ''Festival Mil·leni'' at the Teatro Coliseum in Barcelona. In May 2019, Lorenzo starred in an episode of the

La Sexta La Sexta (; ; stylised as laSexta) is a privately owned Spanish free-to-air television channel that was founded on 18 March 2001 as Beca TV and began broadcasting on 1 April 2001. By 21 July 2003, the channel ran into debt and was shut down, bu ...

travel show ''Viajeras con B''. In June 2019, she released the single "Underworld". Its official music video was directed by Pablo H. Smith and produced by The Panda Bear Show. During the summer of 2019, she toured Spain with ''La Llamada: Musical''. In November 2019, she starred in the multimedia event show ''El gran secuestro'' for

Playz Playz (stylised as playz) is an online service belonging to Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the Spanish public broadcaster, streaming free-to-air content for a young audience. It was launched on 30 October 2017. History Embedded within the ...

2020–present: ''Crisálida'', ''Veo cómo cantas'' and Benidorm Fest

In June 2020, Lorenzo released "Miedo", the first single from her third studio album, to be titled ''Crisálida''. A second single that precedes the album, the same-titled "Crisálida", will be released on January 29, 2021. In 2021, Lorenzo joined the Antena 3 music game show '' Veo cómo cantas'' (the Spanish version of ''

I Can See Your Voice ''I Can See Your Voice'' (abbreviated as ''ICSYV'') is a television mystery music game show franchise created by Lee Seon-young and produced by CJ ENM, which originated from I Can See Your Voice (South Korean game show), the South Korean program ...

'') as a panelist. In 2022, she was guest judge on season 2 of ''

Drag Race España ''Drag Race España'' (sometimes called ''Drag Race Spain'') is a Spanish reality competition television series, produced by Atresmedia Televisión in collaboration with Buendía Estudios and executive produced by World of Wonder. It is the Spa ...

''. Lorenzo was also a contestant on the seventh season of reality television cooking show '' MasterChef Celebrity''. In January 2023, she was confirmed as the main host of the

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

singing competition series ''Cover Night'', along with Ana Guerra and

Abraham Mateo Abraham Mateo Chamorro (born 25 August 1998) is a Spaniards, Spanish singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He began his career as a child prodigy, capturing national attention in Spain for his remarkable vocal talent and releasing his ...

. In January 2024, she was announced as one of the hosts of Benidorm Fest 2024, the Spanish selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

, alongside Marc Calderó and Ana Prada. On 12 September 2024, she was revealed to be one of the presenters of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024, along with Melani García and

Marc Clotet Marc Clotet Fresquet (born 29 April 1980) is a Spanish actor and model. Life and career Marc Clotet Fresquet was born in Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of ...

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Planeta Azul'' (2014) * '' Loveaholic'' (2018) ;Extended plays * ''

'' (2011) * ''The Night'' (2013) * ''Love Is Dead'' (2013) * '' Dancing In The Rain'' (Cahill Remixes) (2014) * ''Renuncio (Remixes)'' (2015)

Filmography

Television

Guinness World Records 2016

On 19 October, International Breast Cancer Awareness Day, she performed in 12 hours in eight different Spanish cities, achieving the

for this special cause. The name of the event was " Un récord por ellas".

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenzo, Ruth Spanish rock singers 1982 births Living people Spanish women rock singers The X Factor (British TV series) contestants Spanish expatriates in England People from Murcia Singers from the Region of Murcia English-language singers from Spain 21st-century Spanish singers 21st-century Spanish women singers Spanish television presenters Spanish women television presenters Spanish guitarists Spanish women guitarists Spanish pianists Spanish women pianists Eurovision Song Contest entrants