Austria

Coordinates: 47°20′N 13°20′E / 47.333°N 13.333°E / 47.333; 13.333

Austria (ⁱ/ˈɒstriə, ˈɔː-/;German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç]), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich,  listen ), is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.66 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,879 square kilometres (32,386 sq mi). Austria's terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and Austrian German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene.

Natália Kelly

Natália Kelly (born 18 December 1994) is an American-Austrian singer, born in Hartford, Connecticut, United States to an American father and Brazilian mother; Kelly currently resides in Bad Vöslau, Lower Austria. Kelly represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, with the song "Shine".

Biography

2000-04: Early life

Kelly moved to Austria from the US at the age of six in 2000. The daughter of an American businessman with Austrian and Irish roots and a Brazilian mother, Kelly started from an early age with music. In 2004, at the age of ten, she was a member of the children's opera in the production of In 80 Tagen um die Welt (Around the World in 80 Days) at the Baden state theatre. Also in 2004, Kelly came second on Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) television show, Kiddy Contest, with a duet with Manuel Gutleb. In the following years, Kelly participated in several competitions including Prima La Musica in classical music.

2005-07: Gimme 5

Between 2005 and 2007, Kelly was a member of children's pop group Gimme 5 that was signed to Universal Music, and produced by Alexander Kahr.

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson), often shortened to ESC or Eurovision, is the longest-running annual TV song competition, held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy.

Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956, and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the USA and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia would return in 2016. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, via the Eurovision website.

Song Contest

Song Contest may refer to:

Eurovision Song Contest 2013

The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Malmö, located on the west coast of Sweden, following Loreen's win in the 2012 contest with the song "Euphoria". It was the fifth time that Sweden had hosted the contest, the last time being in 2000. Sveriges Television (SVT) chose Malmö Arena as the venue following the consideration of several venues in Sweden. The host for the contest was Petra Mede. Thirty-nine countries participated, including Armenia, which was last represented in 2011. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey announced their withdrawal from the 2013 Contest.

The design of the contest was built around the theme "We Are One" – highlighting equality and unity of all the participating countries alongside the cultural diversity and influence of each participant. Compared to many of the previous contests in the history of Eurovision, rather than focusing on promoting its own country, Sweden chose to lay focus on the artists and their respective countries. The postcards presented before every song which have often been used to show the host country's nature, culture and social life, were changed to show the typical everyday life of each individual artist in their home countries scattered around Europe.