Alexander Rybak

Biography

Alexander Igorevich Rybak (Russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) or Alyaksandr Iharavich Rybak (Belarusian: Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and actor. Based in Oslo, Norway, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe throughout the early 2010s. Performing in English, Russian and Norwegian, Rybak has released five albums. His debut 2009 album, Fairytales, charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a top position in Norway and Russia. After two pop albums in Fairytales and No Boundaries (2010), Rybak switched to become a family-oriented artist, focusing on children's and classical music and frequently performing with youth orchestras. Rybak represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and won the competition with 387 points—the highest tally any country achieved in the history of Eurovision under the then-voting system—with "Fairytale", a song he wrote and composed. Winning at the age of 23, Rybak was the then-youngest solo male winner of the contest and the only Belarusian-born winner to date. Since then, Rybak has been involved several times in the contest. He represented Norway again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "That's How You Write a Song", winning the second semi-final and finishing in 15th place in the final. He performed as an opening act for the 2010 final and as an interval act in 2012, 2016 and 2026. Rybak has frequently provided commentary on the contest, and also worked as a journalist in 2011, and as a judge on the Belgian national finals in 2016 and 2023.

== Early life == Rybak was born in Minsk, which at that time was part of Soviet Belarus. His parents hail from the town of Vitebsk in Northern Belarus. His father Igor Rybak, a well-known classical violinist who performed alongside Pinchas Zukerman, defected to Norway in the summer of 1991, after a concert tour of a Belarusian chamber orchestra which he was part of. Rybak's father lived with a musical family who gave him shelter and food in exchange for violin lessons for their son. Alexander Rybak and his mother Natalia Rybak (née Gurina), who worked as a music journalist and a piano teacher, arrived in Norway on a tourist visa and were initially refused a residence permit. Eventually, the Rybak family settled in Nesodden and received Norwegian citizenship after seven years in the country. At the age of five, Rybak began to play piano but eventually picked up the violin as his main instrument. He stated "I always liked to entertain and somehow that is my vocation". He became a student at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo at the age of 10. As a result of his Eurovision win in 2009, he took a break from his bachelor's degree studies at the institute, but in 2011 he returned to his studies, and in June 2012 he graduated from the institute with a Bachelor of Music in violin performance.

== Career == In 2004, Rybak was awarded the Anders Jahre Culture Prize at the annual culture festival in Madrid, Spain. In 2005, he entered the Norwegian version of Idol, Idol: Jakten på en superstjerne, reaching the semifinal. In 2006, Rybak won Kjempesjansen ("The Great Opportunity"), a talent competition hosted by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), with his own song, "Foolin". Rybak has collaborated with artists such as a-ha's lead singer Morten Harket and Arve Tellefsen. In 2007, Rybak played the fiddle in Oslo Nye Teater's production of Fiddler on the Roof and won the Hedda Award for this role.

=== Eurovision 2009 ===

Rybak won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, with a record 387 points, singing "Fairytale", a song inspired by Norwegian folk music. The song was composed and written by Rybak and was performed with the modern folk dance company Frikar. The song received good reviews with a score of 6 out of 6 in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, and, in an ESCtoday poll, he scored 71.3%, making him the favourite to get into the final. In the 2009 Norwegian national heats, Rybak achieved a clean sweep, gaining the top score from all nine voting districts and ending with a combined televoting and jury score of 747,888, while the runner-up, Tone Damli Aaberge, received a combined score of only 121,856 (out of a total population of less than 5 million). The song then competed in the second semi-final and won a place in the Eurovision final. Rybak later won the Eurovision final with a landslide victory, receiving votes from all the other participating countries. Rybak finished with a total of 387 points, breaking the previous record of 292 points scored by Lordi in 2006 and scoring 169 points more than the runner-up, Iceland.

=== After Eurovision, film and the first album ===

Rybak's debut album, Fairytales, was released after his Eurovision win. Rybak also co-stars as Levi in the film Yohan directed by Grete Salomonsen, which was released in March 2010. Rybak also went on a tour in Norway with former Norwegian Eurovision winner Elisabeth Andreassen, something that had been decided before his Eurovision win and participation. He and Frikar also toured Norway and Europe in 2009. In a December 2009 performance of his hit "Fairytale" at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, held at the Oslo Spektrum, Rybak shared the stage with nine other acts. EMI Norway has just released a film entitled Fairytale: The movie, directed by acclaimed Norwegian director Rune Langlo, documenting the journey of Alexander Rybak since claiming the top prize for Norway in Moscow. That same year, he recorded the theme song, called "I Don't Believe in Miracles/Superhero", for the Russian action movie Black Lightning produced by Timur Bekmambetov.

=== 2010–2011 ===