Eurovision Song Contest 2016

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 will be the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 Contest in Vienna with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. This will be the third time the contest has taken place in Stockholm, after 1975 and 2000, the latter also being held at the Globe. The contest will consist of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and the final on 14 May 2016. The three live shows will be hosted by Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede.

Forty-three countries will participate, equalling the record number of participants set in 2008 and 2011. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine will return after absences from recent contests, while Australia will also return after débuting as a special guest in 2015. However, Portugal will withdraw.

Location

The contest will take place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, following Sweden's victory at the 2015 Contest in Vienna with the song "Heroes", performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. The Ericsson Globe has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees, and this will be the second time the contest has been staged at the venue, after 2000.

Sergey Lazarev

Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev (Russian: Серге́й Вячеславович Лазарев, 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 the dark-haired member of the group Smash!!. The group broke up in 2006. Since then Lazarev has pursued a solo career. He will represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Biography and career

Early life and child stardom

From ages six to nine Lazarev went in for artistic gymnastics. Lazarev began his acting and singing career before the age of 10, singing in the Lokteus Children Choir. At the age of 14, he had already received his first musical award, won several children's song contests, and ended up as a member of child group Neposedi (Непоседы), the same group in which Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina of t.A.T.u. met each other. Also his friend Vlad Topalov (Влад Топалов) joined the group, who later would become the other half of the group Smash!!.

When he was eleven, he sang in the Pokrovsky Theatre, had parts in many plays. In 1995, at the age of 12, Sergey entered the fidgets band, the same year he won the TV contest of children's gold key. As a part of the fidgets group Sergey took part in famous Russian TV programs and contests, such as "Guess the Tune", "Grasp Me", "The Morning Star", "Look Out", "The Blue Light" and "The Slaconic Bazaar". In September 1996 Sergey won the first prize at the contest Bravo Bravissimo in Italy. The same year he sang with the president orchestra led by P. Ovsyannikov.