Ruslana

Ruslana (???????) (born Ruslana Stepanivna Ly?y?ko; Ukrainian: ??????? ???????-??? ???????; May 24,1973 in Lviv, Ukraine) is singer-songwriter, producer, music conductor, pianist and a World Music Award winning and MTV Europe Music Award nominated artist. She is known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with "Wild Dances". Ruslana is married to Oleksandr Ksenofontov, a Ukrainian record producer on December 28, 1995.

Ruslana is married to Oleksandr Ksenofontov, a Ukrainian record producer on December 28, 1995. Together they have run the company LuxenBourg Studio since 1993, producing radio and film trailers. Since she was four years old, she studied at an Experimental Music School and sang in a band. Ruslana graduated from a music Conservatory as pianist and conductor. The beginning of Ruslana's ?star? career started with winning the international song festival Slovians'kyj Bazar in Vitebsk, Belarus in 1996.

She won the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" receiving points from 34 of the 35 countries participating in the contest. The winning song Wild Dances was folk regarding music, performance and costumes. The style is a combination of ethnic sounds of the mountain people of the Hutsuls with modern rock, pop and dance elements.

Ruslana actively supported the democratic processes in Ukraine in winter 2004/2005 and became a cult figure of the Orange Revolution. From spring 2006 to Summer 2007 she was a Member of Ukrainian Parliament.

Rus?ana's new project Wild Energy combines the art of music and video production, literature and social commitment in an unique way. The album Wild Energy will be released in spring 2008. It includes cooperations with R&B stars T-Pain and Missy Elliot. The first single "Moon of Dreams" feat. T-Pain will also be released in spring 2008.

Ruslana is a DJ for the fictional radio station "Vladivostok FM" in Grand Theft Auto IV with Wild Dances (Ukranian FM Version) being on the playlist for the same station.

As of 2009, despite the fact that she was invited as a Special Guest Star, she nevertheless was awarded two special trophies at the 6th Asia Song Festival . The first of them was the golden statue of The Best Artist Award of The Asia song festival 2009, the main award of the festival that each participant received and the second special award for the contribution to the cultural exchange between Ukraine and Asia in music.