Zlata Leonidivna Ognevich (Ukrainian: Злата Леонідівна Оґнєвіч, romanized: Zlata Leonidivna Ohnievich; born Inna Leonidivna Bordiuh [Інна Леонідівна Бордюг] on 12 January 1986) is a Ukrainian singer and former politician. She represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the song "Gravity", placing third. Ognevich previously attempted to represent Ukraine at the contest in 2010 and 2011.
According to her birth certificate, Ognevich was born in 1986 in Murmansk, however, she later found Kryvyi Rih to be her actual place of birth;[5] she has Italian ancestors on her mother's side and Serbian on her father's side.[6][7] She grew up in the Crimean city of Sudak.[8][nb 1] At age 18, Ognevich moved to Kyiv to pursue a higher music education.[10][11] Ognevich is a graduate of Kyiv's Rheingold M. Glière Music College.[12] During her third year at Rheingold, she began working with live bands and did her own promotional work.[11]
Ognevich in interviews has claimed she has lived in "many cities and countries".[13][14]
Ognevich made her first attempt to enter the Eurovision Song Contest with Ukraine. Her song was "Tiny Island", which finished fifth with 30 points.
2010–2011: Eurovision Song Contest 2011
In 2011, she made her second unsuccessful attempt to represent Ukraine in the contest. This time the song was in the Ukrainian language. Her song was "The Kukushka" which finished second.
Following complaints from viewers about the voting procedure in that years final, a new final was to be held on 3 March 2011.[15] However, after Jamala and Ognevich withdrew from this new final in the days before it was scheduled to be held, Mika Newton became the artist to represent Ukraine.[16][17]
2012–2014: Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and Junior Eurovision hosting
Zlata Ognevich in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
On 23 December 2012, Ognevich made her third attempt to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest, by entering the Ukrainian national selection Evrobachennya 2013 – Natsionalyni vidbir with the song "Gravity". After scoring maximum points from both the jury and televote, Ognevich won the right to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden.[18]
At the competition, Ukraine qualified from the first semi-final on 14 May 2013, placing third in a field of 16 songs and scoring 140 points. In the final, Ognevich and "Gravity" placed third, scoring 214 points and receiving 12 points from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia and Moldova.[19]
At the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 on 13 May 2023, Ognevich was the spokesperson for the Ukrainian national jury, announcing that its twelve points had been awarded to Sweden.[23]
Political career
In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election on 26 October, Ognevich was a candidate (as a non-partisan candidate she placed 4th on the party list) of Radical Party.[3] According to Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko, Ognevich was on the party list because "I understand that in the imagination of people a parliamentarian is jowly, paunchy, old, sick and stupid. I want in Parliament young, smart, beautiful".[24] In the election, her party won twenty two seats and thus Ognevich was elected into parliament.[2] In parliament, she focused on cultural and copyright issues.[25][26] Ognevich was present at 57% of all parliamentary sessions during her tenure in parliament.[27]
On 10 November 2015, Ognevich submitted a letter of resignation to parliament.[4] In her resignation speech to parliament on the same day, she stated; "Now I see that when there is no culture it’s easier to rule and manipulate people. That’s why in these circumstances, as cultural activist, I’m not helpful to this parliament…".[4] In the speech, she also accused her former colleagues of serving lobbyist interests and not the general public.[27]
^Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Zlata Ognevich". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung). Archived from the original on 11 July 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
