Naumova, Maria

Mariya Naumova ( Latvian: Marija Naumova ; June 23, 1973 , Riga ) is a Latvian singer of Russian descent who won under the pseudonym Marie N at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2002 .

Maria Naumova Marija naumova
basic information
Date of Birth	June 23, 1973 ( 1973-06-23 ) (aged 46)
Place of Birth	Riga , Latvian SSR , USSR
A country	Latvia
Professions	singer , composer
Years of activity	1994 - p.t.
Instruments
Genres	jazz pop
Aliases	Marie n
Labels	Global Chrysalis / BMG, Baltic Records Group
marien.lv

Since 1994, the singer began to collaborate with composer Raymond Pauls . In 1995, she took part in a television competition of young talents and was warmly received by the audience. In 1998, she participated in a concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of J. Gershwin , after which she gained fame in the country. In 1999, she released her first solo album, "To Bright Tears," recorded in Russian. The album “Ieskaties acīs”, released in 2001, became “gold” two weeks after the release, and after 11 months - “platinum”. In the same year she recorded an album in French “Ma Voix, Ma Voie”. She won the Audience Award at the Voice of Asia contest.

In 2000, she first participated in the national selection for Eurovision , where she took second place. After an unsuccessful attempt the following year, she won the qualifying round, and then the competition itself in 2002 with the song “ I Wanna ”, the music for which Maria wrote herself. The song was the first among the winners of the competition, which was not published by record companies outside their own country.

In November of the same year she released two new albums (one in English, the second in Latvian). She was the host of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga. In 2004 she performed the main part in the musical Sounds of Music . She was also recognized as the best performer of the title role in the musical "Sister Kerry".

In her latest album, “On my own”, she included songs in Latvian, English, French, and Portuguese.

Received a law degree at the University of Latvia . In 2005, she became the first UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Latvia.

At the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, Maria Naumova played the role of Fantina in a musical staged based on Victor Hugo 's novel Les Miserables.