Toussaint Michael Chiza, better known as Tusse, is a Congolese-Swedish singer who represented Sweden in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host th ...

Life and career

Chiza was born in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

When he was five years old he had to flee his country. He lived in Uganda in a refugee camp with his aunt for three years. He came to Sweden with his aunt as a refugee at just 8 years old. In Sweden, he started to live with a family in the village of Kullsbjörken where he has resided since 2015. He participated as a singer in the Swedish talent show Talang 2018 (as Tousin Chiza) which was also broadcast on TV4; he made it to the semifinals before being eliminated. He received praise for his semifinal performance from judge Bianca Ingrosso. Tusse was a finalist in Swedish Idol 2019, broadcast on TV4, alongside

Freddie Liljegren Freddie Wilhelm Clemence Liljegren (born 19 May 1993) is a Swedish singer, who first came to widespread attention as a finalist in Swedish Idol 2019, broadcast on TV4, alongside Tusse Chiza, in which he was ultimately placed second. Liljegren w ...

, and was ultimately declared the winner in the final. After winning Swedish Idol, he released three singles, two of them songs he performed on Idol: a cover of " How Will I Know" on 22 November 2019 as a Top 12 contestant. And as the winner, he released his version of the season's winning song, "Rain", on 3 December 2019. As a result of his victory, he got to release his debut single as a

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

as well as on the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. His third single is called "Innan du går" Tusse participated in

Melodifestivalen 2021 Melodifestivalen 2021 was the 61st edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen. The competition was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 6 February and 13 March 2021. Due to the impac ...

with the song " Voices". He qualified directly to the final, scheduled for 13 March 2021, and ultimately won with 175 points. As a result, he represented Sweden in the

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the Netherlands. After his first Eurovision rehearsal Tusse was the victim of racist comments on social media. In the semi-final Tusse managed to qualify for the final on 22 May. In the final he reached 14th place with his song. After Eurovision, he did an interview with the magazine Vanity Teen in which he talked about his personal life, his experience in Eurovision and his future career.

Discography

Singles

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Living people 2002 births Idol (Swedish TV series) winners Idol (Swedish TV series) participants Democratic Republic of the Congo emigrants to Sweden Melodifestivalen contestants Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2021 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Sweden 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish male singers Refugees in Sweden Talang (Swedish TV series) contestants