Dima Bilan – Musician

Dima Bilan (real name: Viktor Belan), born December 24, 1981, in Karachay-Cherkessia, is a Karachay-Russian pop singer. Dima represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with Never Let You Go, finishing 2nd.

When Bilan was one, his family moved to his grandmother’s place in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan. When he was six years old, his family moved to Kabardino-Balkaria where he went to school with his sister. He took part in morning performances, recited poems and sang songs.

Bilan graduated from Gnesins Musical College as a classical vocal performer. Dima made his debut when he reached 4th place at the Russian/Latvian festival “New Wave” in 2002. In 2003, Dima Bilan released his debut album titled “Nochnoy Huligan,” (“Night Hooligan”) which included covers of “Caruso” by Lucio Dalla and “Fever” by Elvis. In 2004, he released his successful single “Na beregu neba,” which was also the title of his second album.

Produced by the late Yury Aizenshpis, a Russian music mogul famous for his work with Viktor Tsoi in the Soviet Union, Dima Bilan attempted to reach Eurovision previously with the song Not That Simple in 2005, finishing in 2nd place at the Russian national selection. The video for the Russian version of the song was reputably the most expensive in the history of Russia’s music industry. In December 2005, Dima received two golden gramophones for the song “Ty dolzjna ryadom byt'” (this is a russian version of “Not That Simple”) in Saint Petersburg and Alma Ata. During shootings of “Noviye pyesny o glavnom”(New songs about what is most important) he received the grand prize of the First channel from the professional jury. Dima became Man of the Year in the sphere of show- business because the most voters gave their voices for him according to the version of Rambler.

At the end of a year he accepted an invitation for the composition “Ya pomnyu tebya” (I remember you) was shot in the Botanical garden. The clip had a fantastical and magical element which corresponded with the atmosphere of New Year’s Eve. In March 2006 Dima Bilan took part in “Zolotaya sharmanka”(Golden street organ) of “International Music Awards” in Kiev where he was honored as “Singer of the Year” for the song “Never let you go”.