Ani Lorak

At 45 years old, Ani Lorak has this physical status:

In 1992, at the age of 13, she took part in the Chernivtsi singing competition Pervotsvit, which she won. There, she met Yuriy Falyosa, who became her first producer. As a result, at the age of 15, she signed her first professional contract for the duration of ten years. In that timeframe, as part of her contract duties, she was not allowed to marry or give birth.

Kuiek became known as Ani Lorak from March 1995 onwards after she took part in the popular children's music television programme Morning Star on Channel One Russia. Intending to perform there mononymously as Karolina, she was told that that was undesirable as there was another famous singer at the time in Russia who performed under that pseudonym. As a result, the stage name "Ani Lorak" was invented, which was the name "Karolina" read backwards.

After participating in "Morning Star", Lorak's star started to rise in Ukraine. In the summer of 1995, Lorak was one of the laureates of the Chervona Ruta festival, that year held in Sevastopol and Simferopol, which led to her definite breakthrough in the Ukrainian show business. Ani Lorak moved to Kyiv later that year to start recording her first album. She was named "Discovery of the Year" at the popular Ukrainian festival Tavria Games in 1996. The same year she released her first Russian-language album, "Khochu letat" (I Want to Fly).

Lorak continued recording new songs in 1997. Her two videos, "Manekenschitsa" and "Bozhe moy," were filmed and the latter became a soundtrack to the movie "The Right to Choose". In the spring of 1998, her new video, "Ya vernus," was shot and in December Lorak's second Russian-language album "Ya vernus" was released. The mastering of this album took place in New York. Simultaneously, her two music videos "O moya lyubov" and "Dozhdlivy gorod" were filmed to accompany her new album.

At the outset of 1999, Lorak started her first extensive and international touring, performing in the United States, France, Germany, Hungary, and in every major city of Ukraine. In 1999, she earned the title of the Honoured Artist of Ukraine. That same year, she got acquainted with Igor Krutoy, who wrote the composition "Zerkala" for her, which brought her more initial fame in Russia.

In 2000, she released her third album with Falyosa as the main producer, titled "www.anilorak.com," containing Russian, Ukrainian, and English compositions. She returned to singing completely in Ukrainian again a year later, releasing her fourth album, "Tam, de ty ye...". This was followed by a second album in Ukrainian, titled "Ani Lorak" in 2004, which mostly had the same songs as her 2000 album. In 2004-2005 Ani Lorak was a UN GoodWill Ambassador in Ukraine for HIV/AIDS.

In 2005, Ani Lorak made her first attempt to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest and was virtually certain to sing the home country's entry in Kyiv, but ultimately failed to be selected. Her narrow defeat in the 2005 national pre-selection competition was particularly controversial, given that the winners – GreenJolly – were only added later and did not have to qualify for the final by winning one of the fifteen preliminary heats, unlike all other finalists. However, their song "Razom nas bahato", had a larger societal impact at the time, following the Orange Revolution. Lorak finished in second place in the Ukrainian national final with the song "A Little Shot Of Love". Afterwards, she released her first and only English-language album Smile.

In 2006, this was followed by "Rozkazhi," her ninth album, again fully in Ukrainian. Shortly after the album's release, Lorak ended her contract with Falyosa and started to work with producer Konstantin Meladze. That same year, Lorak released a duet with Meladze's brother Valery Meladze, which became Lorak's first radio hit in Russia. In 2007, she celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of her artistry with the album 15, fully in Russian bar one song in English. However, the collaboration with Meladze quickly fell through, leaving Lorak without a producer.

In 2007, Lorak's friend and colleague Philipp Kirkorov successfully produced Belarus' Eurovision 2007 effort and opted to bring Lorak to Eurovision in Belgrade in 2008. In late 2007, it was announced that Ukrainian public broadcaster NTU had internally selected Lorak to represent the country at Eurovision in Belgrade, and that the public and a jury would choose the song. It was the third and last internal selection the country had before internally selecting Go_A in 2021. On 23 February 2008, Lorak performed five potential entries in a special show. The song "Shady Lady", written by Karen Kavaleryan and Philipp Kirkorov won the show with a landslide victory.

Shortly after, she recorded a Russian version of her Eurovision song "Shady Lady" with the title "S neba v nebo." Lorak, similar to Dmitry Koldun a year prior, held an extensive promo campaign and visited other countries to present her song, including Malta, Russia, Bulgaria, Spain and Germany. At the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, she sang the song "Shady Lady" in the second semi-final on 23 May 2008, winning a place in the final. She took second place in the final after Dima Bilan, giving Ukraine its second runner-up position in a row and its third-best score of all-time. Italian designer Roberto Cavalli designed the ornate dress for Lorak's performance at the contest, which was made with Swarovski Diamonds. Greek choreographer Fokas Evangelinos designed her stage show, involving four dancers. Prior to performing in the final, Lorak had won the Artistic Award, voted the most popular entry among the former winners of the contest.

After her second-place finish at Eurovision, Lorak returned to Ukraine in newfound stardom. For her result, she and Philipp Kirkorov were given the title People's Artist of Ukraine. In Chernivtsi, where her career had taken off in 1992, she received a star on the Star Alley in the centre of the city.

In 2009, she released her tenth album, Solntse, which was produced by Dimitris Kontopoulos, who had previously produced her Eurovision effort. The album became her most successful effort until that moment. In October 2009, Lorak was ranked 41st in a top 100 of "most influential women in Ukraine" compiled by experts for the Ukrainian magazine Focus.

In 2010, Lorak released a compilation album titled "The Best". At the time, she continued releasing, almost exclusively in Russian and performed in countries in the Russian-speaking world.

In 2013, Lorak returned to Greece to produce her fourteenth "Zazhigay serdtse" together with Kontopoulos. Diana Golde and Ruslan Kvinta also wrote several songs for the album. From March to June 2014, Lorak was a coach on the fourth season "Holos Krainy". During this season, she coached singer Mykyta Aliekieiev, whom she also helped to start his career.

In the wake of the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbas, Lorak continued performing in Russia. This led to severe criticism from several politicians and parts of the Ukrainian society. During several of her concerts in Odesa and Kyiv in 2014, protesters gathered in front of the concert venues. In November 2014, activists gathered to protest against her concert in the Palace of Ukraine. A concert in Odesa was subsequently cancelled as a result.

Lorak's appearance in the New Year's programme on the television channel Inter was subject to severe criticism on social media. Her star on the Star Alley of Chernivtsi was first vandalised with the text "PTN GFY" and on the night of 29 to 30 January 2015, stolen. In May 2015, the Chernivtsi City Council decided to not reinstate a new star for Lorak.

Meanwhile, Lorak scored large commercial success in Russia, performing several duets alongside singer Grigory Leps, which included "Ukhodi po-angliyski" and "Zerkala," which both fared well in the Russian radio charts. At the end of 2016, she released her next Russian-language album Razve ty lyubil?.... In 2017, she toured the region with the tour "Karolina."

At the start of 2018, Lorak started her next tour, titled DIVA, which received positive reviews from music critics. A live album and recording of the tour were released in 2020. In Autumn 2018, Lorak became a coach at the seventh series of The Voice of Russia.

In August 2019, she debuted her jubileum concert tour THE BEST. In late 2019, Lorak released her twelfth studio album Za mechtoy, for which she wrote the majority of the songs herself.

In 2021, she starred in an episode of the Russia-1 television show Sud’ba cheloveka, in which she gave a rare account into her personal life and career history.

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