Hovig Demirjian

Hovig Demirjian
Also known as	Hovig
Born	3 January 1989 Nicosia, Cyprus
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	2009–present

Hovig Demirjian (Greek: Χουίγ Δεμιργιαν, Armenian: Հովիկ Դեմիրճյան, born 3 January 1989), better known by the mononym Hovig, is a Cypriot singer of Armenian origin. He will represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.^[1]

Life and career

Demirjian or Demirdjian was born on 3 January 1989 in Nicosia, Cyprus, and is of Armenian descent.^[2] He studied marketing and worked in business, but quickly gave up in order to become a singer. He learned to play the guitar and piano and also studied jazz and vocals. His first major achievement was placing second in a musical competition in Larnaca. He became well known in Cyprus with the nickname "The Music Messenger". In June 1, 2009, he released "Den mou milas alithina (Istoria exei teleiwsei)" (in Greek "Δεν μού μιλάς - ἱστορία έχει τελειώσει") under the mononym Hovig accompanied by a music video in preparation for the Greek X Factor. The song was written by Argiro Christodoulidou and music video directed by Kostas Voniatis.

Greek X Factor

In 2009, Demirjian took part in the second season of The X Factor Greece broadcast on the Greek television station ANT1. He auditioned with the Greek song "Pote" (in Greek "Ποτέ") and qualified for the Boys (16-24) category mentored by Nikos Mouratidis. In the inaugural live show, he sang "How to Save a Life" from The Fray and in second week the Armenian-themed "Menos ektos" from Eleftheria Arvanitaki. In week 3 of the live shows he sang "Unchain My Heart" from Ray Charles and Joe Cocker followed by Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name in week 4 and "With a Little Help from My Friends from The Beatles and Joe Cocker in week 5. He continued with various interpretations like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" from The Rolling Stones, "Feel from Robbie Williams and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" again from Cocker and "It's a Man's Man's Man's World". In the 11th live show, he performed two songs: the Greek-language "Pou Na Sai" from Andonis Remos and "Hello" from Lionel Richie. He ended up finishing in seventh place in the competition.^[3]

After X factor, he returned to Cyprus developing a solo music career. He released a number of singles including the Greek-language songs "Ksana" (in Greek Ξανά) in 2010 and "Ekho ya mena" (in Greek "Εγω Για Μένα") in 2013. He also toured internationally performing in various concerts in Greece, the Middle East and Russia.

Eurovision Song Contest

Following The X Factor Greece, Demirjian competed to represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions; 2010 and 2015. In 2010, he placed third with "Goodbye", and in 2015, he placed fourth with "Stone in a River".^[4]

On 21 October 2016, Demirjian was announced as the Cypriot entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.^[5] His song will be written by Swedish composer Thomas G:son.^[6]

Discography

Singles

Year	Title	Album
2009	"Den mou milas alithina" (Δεν μού μιλάς αληθινά - ἱστορία έχει τελειώσει)	Non-album singles
2010	"Ksana" (Ξανά)
	"Goodbye"
2013	"Ekho ya mena" (Εγω Για Μένα)
2015	"Stone in a River"

References

1. "Cyprus: Hovig Demirjian is Confirmed for Kyiv". The Eurovision Times. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
2. Jordan, Paul (21 October 2016). "Hovig to represent Cyprus in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. EBU.
3. "Hovig to represent Cyprus at Eurovision 2017 in Kiev". cyprus-mail.com. Cyprus Mail. 21 October 2016.
4. "Hovig to Represent Cyprus at Eurovision 2017". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. 21 October 2016.
5. Jiandani, Sanjay (21 October 2016). "Cyprus: Hovig will fly to Kyiv!". esctoday.com. ESCToday. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
6. Gallagher, Robyn (21 October 2016). "CyBC confirms Hovig as Cyprus' act for Eurovision 2017". wiwibloggs.com. Wiwibloggs.

External links

• Hovig Demirjian on Facebook
• Hovig Demirjian on Instagram
• Hovig Demirjian at the Internet Movie Database