Sergey Lazarev

Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev (born 1 April 1983) is a Russian singer, dancer and actor. He is most famous for his singing career, when he rose to fame as a member of the group Smash!!. The group broke up in 2006. Since then Lazarev has pursued a solo career. He represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden, and finished in third place, coming first in the televote. He represented Russia again at Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel with the song "Scream", and similarly finished in third place.

Lazarev was born in Moscow on 1 April 1983. From age of four, Lazarev practiced artistic gymnastics, but stopped due to his parents' divorce. Subsequently, Lazarev started singing in a children's choir and became interested in performing.

Lazarev got to know about Neposedy's existence merely by accident. A shopkeeper recommended Lazarev to apply for Neposedy while Lazarev was buying bread. In 1995, he became part of the children's group alongside Lena Katina and Julia Volkova. With Neposedy he regularly performed at the Russian television show Morning Star and in 1996, he performed at a concert at the Slavianski Bazaar. In September 1996 Lazarev won the first prize at the contest Bravo Bravissimo in Italy. The same year he sang with the president orchestra led by Pavel B. Ovsyannikov.

Next to singing, Lazarev worked as a child actor. When he was eleven, he performed in the Pokrovsky Theatre and had parts in several plays. Lazarev also appeared in children's sketch comedy programme Yeralash in 1997.

In 2000, Lazarev entered Moscow's MKhAT Theatre School and graduated in 2004 as a professional actor. In 1999 he enrolled at Russia's leading dramatic institute, the school-studio MAAT, and graduated with honors in 2003. As a student, Lazarev played the main parts in Pushkin Theatre's productions of Romeo and Juliet, and Karamazov. For his role as Romeo, he was nominated for a "Seagull" dramatic debut award for the "Best Love Scene".

In 2005 he returned to the theatre scene. His part in the 2005 Broadway-style musical comedy Lend Me A Tenor brought him five professional theater awards, making the play the biggest success of the 2005 theatre season.

Together with British producer Brian Rawling, Lazarev recorded most of the songs for his solo debut Don't Be Fake that was released in November 2005 and sold more than 300,000 copies in Russia alone. In May 2006 Lazarev received Russia's national Music TV Channel's MUZ TV award as Best New Act. The fourth single from the album "Fake" was released to clubs in the UK, debuting on 30 July at #28 on the commercial club chart in Music Week.

Lazarev wins the 2012 Video Music Awards.

Don't be Fake's first two singles, "Eye of the Storm" and "Lost Without Your Love", were soon released. The video clips of these singles were shot in Miami and South Africa, respectively. The third single "Daje Esli Ty Uydiosh ("Just Because You Walk Away" in English) became the biggest single from the album, peaking at #1 for many weeks, remaining on the charts for over six months, coming back to the charts twice more, and eventually reaching #2 in the annual airplay chart of most played songs in 2006. Due to the massive popularity of the song, the album was re-issued with bonus tracks including 3 versions of the song—the English version (which can be found on the first issue), the Russian version, and a dance remix also sung in Russian. Lazarev also performed the song at the MTV Russia Awards. The single was written by American songwriter Gordon Pogoda and Australian writer/artist John Stephan. The fourth single, "Fake", was plugged and the video clip was shot in London. Meanwhile, the Fake Remixes EP was published. This was also promoted to some clubs in the United Kingdom.