name | Alexander Rybak |
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background | solo_singer |
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born | May 13, 1986Minsk, Byelorussian SSR |
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instrument | Vocals, violin, piano |
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genre | Pop, folk, classical, Baroque pop |
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occupation | Singer, actor, songwriter, composer, pianist |
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years active | 1991–present |
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associated acts | Eurovision Song Contest 2009, Frikar |
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website | www.alexanderrybak.com
}} |
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Alexander Igoryevich Rybak (Russian: ''Алекса́ндр И́горевич Рыба́к'') or in Belarusian
Alyaksandr Igaravich Rybak (''Аляксандр І́гаравіч Рыбак''), born 13 May 1986 in
Byelorussian SSR) is a
Norwegian singer-
composer,
violinist,
pianist,
writer, and
actor. Representing Norway in the
2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, Russia, Rybak won the contest with 387 points—the highest tally any country has achieved in the history of Eurovision—with "
Fairytale", a song he wrote and composed. His debut album, ''
Fairytales'', charted in the top 20 in nine European countries, including a #1 position in Norway and Russia.
Personal life
Rybak was born on May 13, 1986, in
Minsk,
Belarus—which at that time was the
Belarusian SSR in the
Soviet Union. When he was 4 years old, he and his family moved to
Norway. Rybak was baptized and raised in the
Orthodox religion. At the age of five, Rybak began to play the piano and the violin. His parents are Natalia Valentinovna Rybak, a classical pianist, and Igor Alexandrovich Rybak, a well-known classical violinist who performs alongside
Pinchas Zukerman. He stated "I always liked to entertain and somehow that is my vocation". Rybak bought a new apartment and lives now at
Aker Brygge (
Oslo, Norway).
Anger issue
In 2010, several incidents of uncontrolled
anger caused commentators to question whether Rybak has a
anger control problem. During the trials for the ESC 2010 finals in
Bærum, Rybak became so infuriated when a sound technician was not doing what he wanted that he smashed his own hand, breaking his fingers. Also, during trials for
Swedish television in June 2010, he smashed his violin on the floor. His appearance was then canceled. According to his manager, Kjell Arild Tiltnes, Rybak does not have an issue with aggression. Tiltnes stated that "as long as he
abreacts on objects and on himself, I see no reason for this to be something that he needs help dealing with." Rybak said, "I never raised my voice before, and that's why I did what I did. I'm just a human being—and perhaps not the glossy image many believe. So it was good to get out frustrations so I could go on. It's only me that goes beyond the same."
Career
Rybak has been a student at the
Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo since the age of 10. Due to his success in the Eurovision Song Contest, he is currently taking a break from his
bachelor's degree studies at the Institute. In 2004, Rybak was awarded the
Anders Jahre Culture Prize. 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". Alexander Rybak has collaborated with artists such as
a-ha's lead singer
Morten Harket and
Arve Tellefsen. As of 2007, Rybak has played the fiddler 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 together 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 Norwegian national heats, Rybak achieved a clean sweep, gaining the top score from all nine voting districts and ending with a combined televote and jury score of 747,888, while the runner up, Tone Damli Aaberge, received a combined score of 121,856.
The song 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 participating countries (except Norway, which was not allowed to vote for itself). 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 first 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. Too 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.
In 2009, 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–present: 2nd album and ''Let's dance'' Sweden
On January 30, 2010, Rybak performed one of his new singles, "Europe Skies", in national final,
Euroviisut 2010, to select the 2010 Finnish entry at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010. On March 12, 2010, Alexander Rybak performed his Eurovision 2009 winning song "
Fairytale" on UK TV show ''
Eurovision: Your Country Needs You''. In April 2010, Rybak released a new song, featuring Opptur, called "Fela Igjen". Alexander released his second album on June 14, 2010, called ''
No Boundaries''. It was not as successuful as his first album, so far it has peaked at number 7 in Norway, number 8 in Sweden and 32 in Finland. On January 7, 2011, Rybak was one of twelve contestant on the next Swedish season of the dancing show ''Let's dance'' also known as ''
Dancing with the stars'', in the show Rybak danced to win the competition against other Swedish celebrities. Rybak made it to the Top 4 before being voted off on March 11, having received the lowest scores from both juries and the voting public.
Discography
Studio albums
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album Title
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album details
! scope="col" colspan="10"| Peak chart positions
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
NOR
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
BEL
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
DEN
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
DUT
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
FIN
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
GER
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
POL
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
RUS
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
SWE
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
FRA
|-
! scope="row" | ''
Fairytales''
|
1st Studio Album
Release Date: 29 May 2009
Labels: EMI, Universal
Genre: Pop
| 1 || 13 || 15 || 29 || 4 || 16 || 7 || 1 || 2 || 21
|-
! scope="row" | ''
No Boundaries''
|
2nd studio album
Release Date: 14 June 2010
Labels: Universal
Genre: Pop
| 7 || — || — || — || 32 || — || 12 || — || 8 || —
|-
! scope="row" | ''
Visa vid vindens ängar''
|
3rd studio album
Release Date: 15 June 2011
Labels: Universal
Genre: Pop
| 7 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || 40 || —
|-
|colspan="14" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
|}
Singles
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Single
! scope="col" colspan="10"| Chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
NOR
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
UK
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
IRE
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
RUS
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
FIN
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
GRE
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
SWE
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
DEN
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
DUT
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
EU
|-
|rowspan="3"|2009
! scope="row"| "
Fairytale"
| 1 || 10 || 2 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 3
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|''Fairytales''
|-
! scope="row"| "
Funny Little World"
| 1 || — || — || — || — || — || 4 || — || — || —
|-
! scope="row"| "
Roll With the Wind"
| 10 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —
|-
|rowspan="2"|2010
! scope="row"| "
Oah"
| 23 || — || — || — || — || — || 56 || — || — || —
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| ''No Boundaries''
|-
! scope="row"| "Europe's Skies"
| — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —
|-
|2011
! scope="row"| "Resan till dig"
| — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="1"| ''Visa vid vindens ängar''
|-
|colspan="14" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
|}
Other songs
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Single
! scope="col" colspan="1"| Chart positions
! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album
|-
! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|
RUS
|-
| 2009
! scope="row"| "I Don't Believe in Miracles / Superhero"
| 18
| style="text-align:center;"|''Black Lightning Soundtrack''
|-
| 2010
! scope="row"| "Fela Igjen" (feat. Opptur)
|
|''Non-Album single''
|-
|colspan="14" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart.
|}
Filmography
Film
|
! Year
|
! Film
|
! Role
|
! Notes
|
2009
|
''Fairytale - The Movie''
|
|
|
References
Hyllet i hjembygda (Norwegian), Østlands-Posten, May 18, 2009, about the official Alexander Rybak Fanclub on Facebook
Du kan bli med Alex til Moskva (Norwegian), Akershus Amtstidende, April 15, 2009, about the official Alexander Rybak Fanclub on Facebook
External links
Official homepage
Official Facebook Page
Official International Fansite of Alexander Rybak
Fan web-site of Alexander Rybak
Alexander Rybak PR in Ireland
Category:1986 births
Category:Living people
Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Norway
Category:Melodi Grand Prix contestants
Category:Melodi Grand Prix winners
Category:Naturalised citizens of Norway
Category:Norwegian violinists
Category:Norwegian male singers
Category:Norwegian actors
Category:Norwegian composers
Category:Norwegian Eurovision Song Contest entrants
Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2009
Category:Eurovision Song Contest winners
Category:People from Minsk
Category:Norwegian people of Belarusian descent
Category:People from Nesodden
Category:Norwegian multi-instrumentalists
Category:Norwegian fiddlers
af:Alexander Rybak
ar:الكسندر ريباك
az:Aleksandr Rıbak
be:Аляксандр Рыбак
be-x-old:Аляксандар Рыбак
bs:Alexander Rybak
br:Alexander Rybak
bg:Александър Рибак
ca:Alexander Rybak
cs:Alexander Rybak
cy:Alexander Rybak
da:Alexander Rybak
de:Alexander Rybak
et:Alexander Rybak
el:Αλεξάντερ Ρίμπακ
es:Alexander Rybak
eo:Aleksander Ribak
fa:الکساندر ریباک
fr:Alexander Rybak
hy:Ալեքսանդր Ռիբակ
hr:Alexander Rybak
id:Alexander Rybak
is:Alexander Rybak
it:Alexander Rybak
he:אלכסנדר ריבאק
ka:ალექსანდრე რიბაკი
lv:Aleksandrs Ribaks
lt:Aleksandras Rybakas
hu:Alexander Rybak
mk:Александар Рибак
nah:Alexander Rybak
nl:Alexander Rybak
ja:アリャクサンドル・ルィバーク
no:Alexander Rybak
nn:Alexander Rybak
pl:Alexander Rybak
pt:Alexander Rybak
ro:Alexander Rybak
ru:Рыбак, Александр Игоревич
sq:Alexander Rybak
simple:Alexander Rybak
sk:Alexander Rybak
sl:Aleksander Rybak
sr:Александр Рибак
sh:Alexander Rybak
fi:Alexander Rybak
sv:Alexander Rybak
tt:Александр Рыбак
th:อเล็กซานเดอร์ รืยบัค
tr:Alexander Rybak
uk:Рибак Олександр Ігорович
vi:Alexander Rybak
zh:亚历山大·雷巴克