Chiara Siracusa
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Chiara, full name Chiara Siracusa, is a Maltese singer, best known for representing her country in the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1998, Chiara won Malta's Song for Europe festival, the national pre-selection for Eurovision, with the gentle ballad The One That I Love, which she then took to the contest in Birmingham. With Eurovision being a national passion in a country that had thus far never actually won the contest, much of Malta held its breath in the latter stages of the event as their entry held a joint lead with Israel, with the votes of only one country left to be heard. But Chiara was to suffer heartbreak in the end, as FYR Macedonia gave her no points at all, leaving her behind the victorious Dana International of Israel, and even pushing her narrowly into third place behind Imaani of the United Kingdom. That was still enough to equal Malta's best ever placing at the time, from the 1992 contest.
From 1998 to 2003, Chiara was managed by M & E Management Group, led by leading Maltese marketing and entertainment management consultant Massimo Ellul. During this period, Chiara dramatically changed from a shy singer to a confident international entertainer, and published three albums. She performed extensively outside Malta and then, under the guidance of Maltese recording studio Bridge Productions, started preparing for yet another toss of the dice at the Eurovision Song Contest.
In 2005, aiming for another chance at Eurovision, Chiara re-entered the Song for Europe festival, and along with 21 other entries reached the final on 19 February with the song Angel, another ballad which this time she wrote herself. For the first time, Malta's Eurovision entry was selected solely by a public vote. Chiara won with 11,935 phone calls, 566 ahead of her nearest rival Olivia Lewis, and so represented Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv.
Chiara had the distinction of joining an unusually extensive list of 2005 competitors who had competed previously in the contest, including Iceland's 1999 runner-up Selma, and Greece's Helena Paparizou, who in the 2001 contest was lead singer of third-placed Antique.
Chiara came second in the Contest with 192 points, behind Greece. She scored more points than Malta's other Eurovision runner-up, Ira Losco, making Angel the most successful Maltese entry ever.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: Julie & Ludwig |
Maltese Entry 2005 |
Succeeded by: Fabrizio Faniello |
| Preceded by: Debbie Scerri |
Maltese Entry 1998 |
Succeeded by: Times Three |
