It's safe to say that Ruth Lorenzo is one of the best Spanish soloists to perform at Eurovision in the 2014st century. The song, inspired by the difficult experiences of the artist, allowed her to take a place in the top ten. Since the performance in XNUMX, no other performer in her country has managed to achieve such success.
Childhood and youth of Ruth Lorenzo
Ruth Lorenzo Pascual was born on November 10, 1982 in Murcia, southeastern Spain. As a child, she was a fan of the musical "Annie", which inspired her to sing. At the age of 6, she was fascinated by the singing of the Catalan opera diva Montserrat Caballe, whose work inspired her to perform opera arias.
Numerous moves had a great impact on the work of Ruth Lorenzo and her health. At the age of 11, she moved with her mother and brothers to the United States. Life changes were caused by a family crisis.
When mother Ruth, already having four children, became pregnant again, her husband decided to leave her. The distraught woman, seeking support in faith, turned to a new religion. The entire family joined the Mormon Church in Utah. Due to experiences and fears, the girl began to suffer from bulimia.
First musical tryouts
In the USA, the aspiring singer participated in local music competitions. She starred in the musicals The Phantom of the Opera and My Fair Lady. When she was 16, she returned to Spain with her parents. At first, she continued to take singing lessons, but after a while she was forced to stop them due to the family's financial problems.
At the age of 19, she joined a rock band to develop her vocal talent. In order to develop with the team, she refused to work in the family business. After three years of touring, the group broke up, and the singer decided to sign a solo contract with Polaris World, where she not only performed, but also worked as an image consultant.
One of the difficulties was a trip to the British Isles. Living abroad for 18 months, she went through difficult times. Ruth called them a dark period in her life. The singer missed home and family. On the verge of a breakdown, I realized that, despite the black clouds, you need (as the title of her song said) to dance in the rain, survive the hard days and move on against adversity.
But it was her stay in the UK that allowed the singer to develop her stage career. There she took part in the X-Factor program. During one of the performances, she sang a song that she associated with her childhood in the United States. It was the song "Always" from the repertoire of the Bon Jovi group. The girl did not win the competition, but participation in the program allowed her to spread her wings.
The heyday of Ruth Lorenzo's career
In 2002, Ruth appeared on the second edition of Operación Triunfo, where she was eliminated in the first round of auditions.
In 2008, she took part in the auditions for the fifth British season of The X Factor. She sang Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". She went to the next stage of the competition, getting into the group over 25 years old, the mentor was Dannii Minogue. She appeared in eight live broadcasts, finishing in fifth place, being eliminated from the competition on November 29 due to the least support from viewers.
At the turn of 2008 and 2009, she went on tour in the UK and Ireland. On January 20, 2009, she performed at the Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards.
Over the next two months, along with the finalists of the fifth edition of The X Factor, she toured during the X Factor Live tour and was nominated for three Digital Spy Reality TV Awards.
In April 2009, the singer performed at the Bubblegum Clubs 15th Anniversary Party at the Dandelion Bar in Dublin, and on May 6 announced the signing of a publishing contract and the premiere of her debut album Planeta Azul at the end of the year. She invited Steven Tyler, leader of Aerosmith, to collaborate on the album.
During this time, Ruth received an offer from the Spanish television Cuatro to write a song for their new TV series Valientes. And as a result, the soundtrack for the production included two plays by Lorenzo - "Quiero ser Valiente" (in the opening credits) and "Te puedo ver" (in the end credits).
In July of the same year, she announced that she had written compositions for the new Dannii Minogue album. Confirmed to end her partnership with Virgin Records/EMI due to "creative differences" and plans to record her debut album as an independent artist.
Ruth Lorenzo at Eurovision
Lorenzo has signed a contract with indiegogo.com. Readers had the opportunity to finance the release of the singer's debut single. A music video was filmed and marketing and image services provided. The CD version of the single, which premiered on July 27, included the song "Burn" and its acoustic version, as well as the song "Eternity".
A year later, the singer released two singles - "The Night" and "Love is Dead" - under the name of the independent music label H&I Music. At the end of 2013, she signed a contract with a new publisher, Roster Music.
In February 2014, Ruth Lorenzo released the song "Dancing in the Rain". On February 22, the final of the qualifying round took place, during which she received the most votes from viewers and became the representative of Spain at the 59th Eurovision Song Contest.
The Eurovision Song Contest was held in Copenhagen and the final concert took place on May 10, 2014. Ruth Lorenzo's performance was met with positive reception. In the final of the competition, she placed 10th with 74 points.
She received the highest marks from Albania (12 points) and Switzerland. However, the best was then Conchita Wurst (Austrian pop singer Thomas Neuwirth). After the concert, the song "Dancing in the Rain" was very popular in Spain. Also noted in Austria, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.
Interesting facts about Ruth Lorenzo
- in 2016, Ruth set a Guinness record by playing eight concerts in 12 hours as part of the Un récord por ellas tour; to break the record in 12 hours, she took part in eight concerts in different cities in Spain;
- the costume for the performance was changed to another just a day before the show;
- the singer took part in a social campaign on the incidence of breast cancer;
- in addition to vocals, the actress starred in TV shows;
The singer is currently working on a new album, which should be released in 2021.
