Dima Bilan

Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan, ; 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer, songwriter and actor. He represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Never Let You Go", finishing second, and he won the contest in 2008 in Belgrade, with the song "Believe". He has had several Russian number one hit records. He is sometimes referred to as "Russia's Iglesias" due to his similarity to the Spanish singer.

Early life
Dima Bilan was born as Viktor Belan in Ust-Dzheguta in the autonomous republic Karachay-Cherkessia in a mixed family of Tatar, Karachay and Russian heritage. Bilan's father was born in Kabardino-Balkaria and his mother in Tatarstan. After having briefly lived in Tatarstan as a child, Bilan's family relocated to Maysky in Kabardino-Balkaria.

Bilan started playing bayan in the fifth class of school and participated in different music contests as a child. He became interested in music as he enjoyed singing during school and started to write letters to the Gnessin Musical College, asking them for entrance requirements. Although the musical college did not respond to his writings, he still went to the auditions and managed to enroll. Between 2000 and 2003, he specialised in classical singing. Afterwards, he enrolled at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts, where he studied acting. At the time, Bilan lived at an apartment of an acquainted family. He financed his studies while working as a nighttime stock clerk in a shoe store.

Career

1998-2004: Early career, New Wave and first albums

Bilan started his music career during school. He regularly performed at school parties and for guests at home. He idolised Valeriy and Konstantin Meladze in his teen years.  In 1995, he first performed at a televised music contest, singing Valeriy Meladze's "Aktrisa". Meladze's 1997 single "Vera" especially became important to Bilan.

In 1998, he first travelled to Moscow to participate in a children's music contest. He received a diploma from Iosif Kobzon, who was the chairman of the jury. After moving to Moscow to studying at Gnessin, Bilan started recording his first songs. His first music video "Osen'" was released in late 2000. He performed his first music video under the pseudonym Dima Belan.

Although Bilan studied to become an opera singer, he quickly found himself bored with is coursework and dreamt of becoming a pop singer. Via a classmate, he met Yuri Aizenshpis, who saw potential in Bilan. Bilan then officially started performing under the pseudonym "Dima Bilan", taking both the first name and surname of his grandfather.

In August 2002, Bilan participated in the first edition of New Wave. At the end of the contest, he finished in fourth place. 

After New Wave, Bilan released a music video for "Boom". In 2003, Bilan released his debut album Ya nochnoy huligan, which became popular in Russia and was received well among critics. As a result, he performed its eponymous single "Ya nochnoy huligan" at the 2003 edition of Pesnya goda. However, Bilan's big break came with the release of the ballad "Na beregu neba", which peaked at #2 at the TopHit radio charts. The subsequent album Na beregu neba became one of the best-selling albums in Russia of 2004, receiving a gold certification.

2005-2008: Eurovision participations, "Believe" and brief international breakthrough
Enjoying large success in his native Russia, Bilan was signed up by his producer Aizenshpis to compete at Russia's Eurovision Song Contest 2005's national selection. With the English-language track "Not That Simple", Bilan was the favourite to win the selection. However, he eventually finished second behind Natalia Podolskaya despite being on top of the televoting for most of the final. The Russian version of the song, titled "Ty dolzhna ryadom byt'" became the 21st most-played track on Russian radio in 2005.

In mid-March 2006, Bilan was chosen internally by Russian broadcaster Channel One to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, Greece. Out of 37 participating countries, Bilan took second place with the dark pop song "Never Let You Go", equalling one of Russia's best ever showing at Eurovision — Alsou's "Solo" was runner-up back in the 2000 contest.
Also in 2007 he premiered the first single from his new album — Number One Fan. According to Russian and Eastern European radio airplay chart, Number One Fan topped the charts for eight weeks. Video for this song was shot in London by famous British director Trudy Bellinger.

On 4 October, Bilan premiered his second single from the forthcoming album, Amnesia, at the MTV Russia Music Awards 2007. During this show, Bilan won three awards, for Best Performer, Best Song and — for the third consecutive year — Best Artist.

In 2008, Bilan released three albums — in Russian, English and Spanish. He also released an English album in 81 countries in co-operation with Interscope Records (Universal Group). He worked on his English album, with some tracks produced by Jim Beanz and Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic). 

On 20 February, Bilan went to Miami and recorded a few tracks for his Spanish album with famous producer Rudy Perez. The Spanish album will include a duet with Nelly Furtado and a Spanish version of his first international single "Number One Fan."

In 2008, Bilan once again represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade with the song "Believe", accompanied by Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton and Russian olympic and three-time world champion figure skater Evgeni Plushenko. On 24 May 2008, Bilan won first place in the contest, receiving 272 points and seven twelves. His victory's integrity was questioned by Ukraine's officials later in May. The following years, the trio performed at various ice shows, among them the inaugural 2010 edition of the Fantasy on Ice show in Fukui.

2009–2010 
During 2009 Bilan has continued with concerts and he also performed during the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, before handing over the title of Eurovision Song Contest winner to Alexander Rybak of Norway.

In 2010 Dima recorded a demo version of the song "White Nights", which would be competing in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, but he did not enter the contest saying that it would be too soon to return to the contest after just 2 years after his win at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

In the Summer of 2010, Bilan produced and starred in the short film Театр Абсурда (Theatre of the Absurd, written and directed by Maxim Apriatin and based upon Bilan's song Он хотел (He Wanted To).  In the film, Bilan performs monologues in which he shares his opinion on the moral values of the people who live in the Russian capital, as well as quotations from Ecclesiastes, and scraps of the diary of Jim Morrison. The film was released on the Internet in late 2010.

2012–present
Bilan has recently competed at Russia's Eurovision 2012 song selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. He entered the competition with t.A.T.u. member Yulia Volkova with their song "Back To Her Future". They finished in 2nd place with 29.25 points from the winning entry, "Party for Everybody" by Russian ethno-pop band Buranovskiye Babushki who was 38.51 points ahead of them.

In January 2023, Ukraine imposed sanctions on Dima for his support of 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In February 2023 Canada sanctioned Dima Bilan.

Awards
Dima Bilan is winner of 37 awards to date:

Honor Awards
 2006 - Honoured Artist of Kabardino-Balkaria
 2007 - Honored Artist of Chechnya
 2007 - Honoured Artist of Ingushetia
 2008 - People's Artist of Kabardino-Balkaria
 2018 - Merited Artist of the Russian Federation

MTV Russia Music Awards
Dima Bilan record for most awards RMA - 10.

 2005 - "Best Performer" and "Best Artist"
 2006 - "Best Song" ( "Never Let You Go" ), "The Best Artist"
 2007 - "Best Song", "Best Song" ("Невозможное возможно"), "Best Artist"
 2008 - "Best Video", "Best Singer", "The Pop Project"

MTV Europe Music Awards
 2005 - "Best Russian Act"
 2006 - "Best Russian Act"
 2007 - "Best Russian Act"
 2008 - "Best Russian Act" entered into the category "Top5 Favorit Europe"
 2009 - "Best Russian Act" hit the Top5 "Best European Act"
 2010 - "Best Russian Act" hit the Top5 "Best European Act"
 2012 - "Best Russian Act" and "Best European Act" hit the Top5 "Best Worldwide Act"

Muz-TV Award
 2007 - "Song of the Year", "Album of the Year", "Best Performer".
 2008 - "Best Ringtone", "Best Performer".
 2009 - "Best Video", "Best Song".
 2010 - "Best Performer".
 2011 - "Best Performer".
 2012 - "Best Performer".

Golden Gramophone Award
Dima Bilan has repeatedly been awarded the Golden Gramophone Award.

 2005 - for the song "На берегу неба"
 2006 год — "Так устроен этот мир"
 2007 год — "Невозможное возможно"
 2008 год — "Все в твоих руках"

ZD Awards
Bilan repeatedly became the laureate of "Soundtrack" in various categories:

 2003 - Sexiest Artist
 2004 - "Singer of the Year"
 2007 - Soloist of the Year and Album of the Year (for the album "Время река")
 2008 - "Soloist of the Year"
 2009 - Singer of the Year and Album of the Year (for the album Believe)

Eurovision Song Contest
 2006 - 2nd place Eurovision  (Athens)
 2008 - 1st place Eurovision (Belgrade)
Dima Bilan is the first artist representing Russia to win Eurovision Song Contest

Russian National Music Awards 

 2015 - "Best Electronic Project of the Year" for "Alien24" (by Dima Bilan feat. Andrej Cherny)
 2015 - "Best Concert of the Year" for "33"
 2016 - "Best Male Pop Singer of the Year"

Glamour Magazine Awards
 2006 - Man of the year
 2009 - Man of the year

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Discography

Studio albums 

 2003: Ya Nochnoy Huligan (I'm a Night Hooligan)
 2004: Na Beregu Neba (On the shore of the sky)
 2006: Vremya reka (Time is a River)
 2008: Protiv pravil (Against the Rules)
 2009: Believe
 2011: Mechtatel (Dreamer)
 2013: Dotyanis (Reach)
 2015: Ne molchi (Don't Be Silent)
 2017: Egoist
 2020: Perezagruzka  (Reboot)

Compilation albums 

 2011: BEST. Ot Hooligana do Mechtatelya (BEST. From Hooligan to Dreamer)
 2021: 13 druzej Bilana (13 Friends of Bilan) (Warner Music Russia, tribute album)

Singles 
 2003 — Ты, только ты (You, only you)
 2004 — Ты должна рядом быть (You must be near)
 2004 — Not That Simple (English version of "Ты должна рядом быть")
 2006 — Я тебя помню (I remember you)
 2006 — Never Let You Go (English version of "Так устроен этот мир")
 2006 — Это была любовь (It was love)
 2008 — Believe (English version of "Всё в твоих руках")
 2008 — Lonely (English version of "Тоска")
 2009 — Dancing Lady (English version of "Со мною")
 2009 — Lady
 2009 — Это модно (It's Fashion)
 2009 — Changes (English version of "Больно")
 2010 — По парам (On the pairs)
 2010 — Safety (ft. Anastacia)
 2010 — Я просто люблю тебя (I just love you)
 2011 — Мечтатели (Dreamers)
 2011 — Задыхаюсь (I'm suffocating)
 2013 — Обними меня (Hug me)
 2017 — Прости меня (Forgive me) (with Sergey Lazarev)
 2017 — Держи (Hold)
 2018 – Пьяная любовь (Drunk love)
 2018 – Молния (Lightning)
 2019 – BilanPholiya (with Polina Gagarina)
 2019 – Океан (Ocean)
 2019 – Про белые розы (About white roses)
 2019 – Полуночное такси (Midnight taxi)
 2020 – Химия (Chemistry)
 2020 – Вторая жизнь (Second life)
 2020 – Dreams
 2021 — Ради побед (For the sake of victories)
 2021 — Это была любовь (It was love) (with Zivert)
 2021 — Ты не моя пара (You are not my mate) (with Mari Kraimbrery)
 2021 — Держи (Keep) (with Klava Koka)
 2021 — Believe (with JONY)

Filmography 
Dima Bilan starred in several Russian films and serials:

 2005 - Not Born Beautiful (cameo)
 2006 - Club (cameo)
 2006 - The Adventures of Pinocchio (Duremar)
 2007 - Star break (Fortiano)
 2007 - Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors (Gurd)
 2008 - Goldfish
 2009 - Pinocchio (visiting singer)
 2011 - Theatre of the Absurd
 2013 - Frozen (Russian dub, voice of Hans)
 2014 - Space Pirate Captain Harlock live-action (Harlock in youth)
 2016 - The Heritage of Love live-action (His first role in full-length film)

References

External links
 
 Dima Bilan Videos and Live performances
 

1981 births
Living people
People from Karachay-Cherkessia
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Russia
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2006
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2008
Eurovision Song Contest winners
Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia
Russian male models
Russian pop singers
World Music Awards winners
MTV Europe Music Award winners
Honored Artists of the Russian Federation
English-language singers from Russia
21st-century Russian male singers
Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Russia
Russian National Music Award winners
Winners of the Golden Gramophone Award
Russian people of Tatar descent
Fantasy on Ice guest artists