Marija Naumova

Marie N
Background information
Birth name	Marija Naumova
Also known as	Marie. N
Born	23 June 1973 (1973-06-23) (age 38)
Origin	Riga, Latvia
Genres	pop, jazz
Occupations	singer, songwriter
Years active	1995 – present
Website	MarieN.lv

Marija Naumova (born 23 June 1973 in Latvia) is a Latvian singer. Under the stage name Marie N, she sings a broad range of music ranging from pop to musical theatre and jazz, and has recorded several albums, with songs in Latvian, French, English, Russian and Portuguese. In 2002 she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Latvia with her song "I Wanna".

Naumova was discovered by famous Latvian musician Raimonds Pauls in 1994 and after a year she performed on TV in searches for talent. She never won, but was noticed by the audience.

In 1998, she performed in a concert celebrating the 100 years jubilee of George Gershwin. In March 1998 she performed on stage in concerts with famous Latvian musicians, and one of those concerts was recorded on CD. That gave her career a boost and she began to participate in several music events, television and radio shows, and give interviews for Latvian newspapers.

Naumova's first solo album, which was completely in Russian, was released in 1999. In 2000 Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Naumova was in the national finals but she became second behind Brainstorm. In 2001 she participated in the Latvian preselection again, singing "Hey Boy Follow Me", which was voted public favourite but wasn't chosen by the expert jury. Naumova had to wait another year before she finally was chosen to represent Latvia with "I Wanna", for which she also wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics.

In the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, her performance of "I Wanna" won the competition and gave Latvia its first ever Eurovision win.

According to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor in his book The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, despite its success at the contest, "I Wanna" gained the dubious distinction of being the first Eurovision winner that was not released outside of its own territory. Even in Latvia the single never reached the top 30.^[1]

In November of her victory year she recorded two new solo albums: one in English, and one in Latvian. She presented the albums to the audience by a tour throughout Latvia.

Naumova co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 along with Renars Kaupers of the Latvian band Brainstorm, who came 3rd in the contest in 2000.

In 2004 Marie N successfully combined her singer's and actress' talent, in the lead role of the musical The Sound of Music.

In December Marie N's latest album "On My Own" was released, with songs in Latvian, French, English and Portuguese language. New compositions for Marie N are composed by Sergey Manoukyan, Ivar Must and Andrejs Jevsjukovs. Marie N has written several songs herself, as well. There are cover versions of several world-famous songs in the album – for example, two compositions which were originally written in French, but became very popular in English language.

Marija Naumova has a law degree from the University of Latvia. In 2005 she was chosen as the UNICEF goodwill envoy to Latvia.

See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

References

1. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3

External links

• Official Website

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton and 2XL with "Everybody"	Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2002	Succeeded by Sertab Erener with "Everyway That I Can"
Preceded by Arnis Mednis with "Too Much"	Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002	Succeeded by F.L.Y. with "Hello From Mars"
Preceded by Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere	Eurovision Song Contest presenter (with Renārs Kaupers) 2003	Succeeded by Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul

Persondata
Name	Naumova, Marija
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	23 June 1973
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death