4Fun | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Genres | rock, pop rock, country |
Years active | 2001–present |
Members | Julija Ritčik (leader, vocals, acoustic guitar) Justas Jasenka (vocals, electric guitar) Rimantas Jasenka (bass guitar) Laimonas Staniulionis (percussion) |
Past members | Tomas Valeika (bass guitar 2001–2006) Alexandr Litz (lead guitar 2001–2002) Artur Zaikovski (lead guitar 2002–2003) Andžej Zujevič (lead guitar 2003–2008) [1] |
Website | http://www.4fun.lt/ |
4Fun (sometimes also Julia & 4Fun) [2] is a Lithuanian music band. They play a wide range of music styles, including rock, pop rock, and country. [3] The band was created in 2001 and participated in several national and international festivals, including Visaginas Country and the Eurovision Song Contest. [4]
4Fun had participated in the national selection for the Eurovision three times. After unsuccessful attempts in 2005 and 2006, 4Fun won the national selection with their lyrical ballad Love or Leave and performance involving shadow play in 2007. [5] They outstripped two other superfinalists: Aistė Pilvelytė and Rūta Ščiogolevaitė. 4Fun represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki and finished 21st with 28 points, with major votes from Ireland (12 points) and Latvia (10 points). [6] Lead singer Julija Ritčik received a wild card entry directly to the finals of the national selection for Eurovision 2008, [7] but placed only 12th out of 14 contestants.
In 2008, 4Fun together with Latvian Valters & Kaža recorded song With U, which became a hit in Latvia. [8]
Lithuania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since its debut in 1994, where Ovidijus Vyšniauskas finished last, receiving "nul points". Lithuania withdrew from the contest, not returning until 1999. LT United's sixth place in 2006 with the song "We Are the Winners" is Lithuania's best result in the contest. The country reached the top ten for a second time in 2016, when Donny Montell finished ninth with "I've Been Waiting for This Night", and for the third time in 2021, finishing eighth with The Roop and "Discoteque".
Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song "My Star". Latvia won the contest in 2002, with Marie N and the song "I Wanna", defeating Malta by 12 points. Latvia is the second former Soviet country to win the contest. The 2003 contest was held in the Latvian capital Riga. The country achieved its third top 10 result in 2005, when Walters and Kazha finished fifth with "The War Is Not Over".
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Little by Little" written by Bobby Ljunggren and William "Billy" Butt. The song was performed by Laura and the Lovers. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2005 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. The national final took place over eight weeks and involved 49 competing entries. The results of each show were determined entirely by a public vote. In the final, twenty entries remained and "Little by Little" performed by Laura and the Lovers was selected as the winner with 5,465 votes.
Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "They Can't Stop the Spring" written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. The song was performed by the band Dervish, which was internally selected in November 2006 by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to represent the nation at the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. RTÉ organised the national final Eurosong 2007 to select the song that Dervish would perform. Four songs faced a public televote, ultimately resulting in the selection of "They Can't Stop the Spring" as the Irish entry.
Andorra participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Salvem el món" written and performed by young Andorran punk-rock band Anonymous, consisting of band members: Guillem Gallego, Niki Francesca and Alejandro Martínez. The band was internally selected by Andorran broadcaster Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) in a process called Projecte Eurovisió for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. The internal selection ended with a total of 82 songs having been submitted to RTVA. These entries were whittled down by the broadcaster to determine the fourth Andorran representatives. Anonymous were announced as the Andorran representatives on 15 January 2007, while the song was presented in a special gala show on 1 March 2007.
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Love or Leave" written by Julija Ritčik. The song was performed by the band 4Fun. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. The national final took place over six weeks and involved three different competitive streams: entries performed by newcomers, semi-established artists and established artists. In the final, eleven artists and songs remained and the winner was selected over two rounds of public voting. In the first round, the top three were selected to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, "Love or Leave" performed by 4Fun was selected as the winner with 23,888 votes.
Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Questa notte" written by Kjell Jennstig, Torbjörn Wassenius and Francesca Russo. The song was performed by the group Bonaparti.lv. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Eirodziesma 2007 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. Twenty songs were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. In the semi-finals on 27 January and 3 February 2007, five entries were selected to advance from each show: three entries selected based on a public televote and two entries selected by a seven-member jury panel. Ten songs ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 1 March 2008 where two rounds of public voting selected "Questa notte" performed by Bonaparti.lv as the winner.
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Nomads in the Night" written by Vytautas Diškevičius and Jeronimas Milius. The song was performed by Jeronimas Milius. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The national final took place over four weeks and involved 34 competing entries. Entries that advanced in the competition were determined by the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote. In the final, fourteen entries remained and a public vote entirely selected "Nomads in the Night" performed by Jeronimas Milius as the winner with 11,674 votes.
Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Wolves of the Sea" written by Jonas Liberg, Torbjörn Wassenius, Johan Sahlen and Claes Andreasson. The song was performed by the group Pirates of the Sea. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Eirodziesma 2008 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. Twenty songs were selected to compete in the national final, which consisted of three shows: two semi-finals and a final. In the semi-finals on 2 and 9 February 2008, five entries were selected to advance from each show: three entries selected based on a public televote and two entries selected by an eight-member jury panel. Ten songs ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 1 March 2008 where two rounds of public voting selected "Wolves of the Sea" performed by Pirates of the Sea as the winner.
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Love" written and performed by Sasha Son, which is the artistic name of singer Dmitrij Šavrov. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the song contest Lietuvos Dainų Daina in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. The competition took place over six weeks and involved 36 competing entries. The results of each show were determined by regional televoting. In the final, fourteen entries remained and "Pasiklydęs žmogus" performed by Sasha Son was selected as the winner. The song was later translated from Lithuanian to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Love".
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Eastern European Funk" written and performed by the group InCulto. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2010 contest in Oslo, Norway. The national final took place over four weeks and involved 34 competing entries. The results of each show were determined by the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote. In the final, twelve artists and songs remained and "Eastern European Funk" performed by InCulto was selected as the winner.
Latvia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with the song "My Star" by band Brainstorm. The song was written by band's lead singer Renārs Kaupers. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Eirodziesma 2000 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2000 contest in Stockholm, Sweden. Ten songs were selected to compete in the national final on 26 February 2000 where a public televote and a fourteen-member jury panel selected "My Star" performed by Brainstorm as the winner.
Latvia participated in and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "I Wanna" written by Marija Naumova and Marats Samauskis. The song was performed by Marie N, which is the artistic name of singer Marija Naumova. The Latvian broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija (LTV) organised the national final Eirodziesma 2002 in order to select the Latvian entry for the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia. Fifteen songs were selected to compete in the national final on 2 March 2002 where a public televote exclusively selected "I Wonna" performed by Marija Naumova as the winner. The song was later retitled as "I Wanna" for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "C'est ma vie" written by Paulius Zdanavičius and Andrius Kairys. The song was performed by Evelina Sašenko. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. The national final took place over four weeks and involved 40 competing entries. In the final, thirteen artists and songs remained and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote selected the top three to qualify to the superfinal. In the superfinal, a jury vote entirely selected "C'est ma vie" performed by Evelina Sašenko as the winner.
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Attention" written by Vilija Matačiūnaitė and Viktoras Vaupšas. The song was performed by Vilija, which is the artistic name of Matačiūnaitė. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. The national final took place over 12 weeks and involved 20 artists and 16 songs competing in two different competitive streams. The results of each show were determined by the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote, and "Attention" performed by Vilija eventually emerged as the winner following the final.
Samanta Poļakova, better known as Samanta Tīna, is a Latvian singer, songwriter and composer.
Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 with the song "You Got Style" written by Viktoras Diawara, Vilius Alesius and Erica Jennings. The song was performed by the group Skamp. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) returned to the Eurovision Song Contest after a one-year absence following their relegation in 2000 as one of the six countries with the lowest average scores over the previous five contests. LRT organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. The national final involved 15 competing entries and "You Got Style" performed by Skamp was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a jury panel, votes from the venue audience and a public vote.
Monika Linkytė is a Lithuanian singer and songwriter. She represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 along with Vaidas Baumila with the song "This Time", placing 18th. She also represented Lithuania in the New Wave 2014 competition and was a finalist on season two of Lietuvos Balsas. She represented Lithuania again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 with the song "Stay", placing 11th.
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Lithuania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Run with the Lions" written by Ashley Hicklin, Eric Lumiere and Pele Loriano. The song was performed by Jurij Veklenko. The Lithuanian broadcaster Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) organised the national final "Eurovizijos" dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka in order to select the Lithuanian entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. The national final took place over seven weeks and involved 49 competing entries. The results of each show were determined by the combination of votes from a jury panel and a public vote. In the final, eight artists and songs remained and "Run with the Lions" performed by Jurijus was selected as the winner.