Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu

Ovi Jacobsen
Ovidiu Cernăuţeanu in Oslo, 26 May 2010
Background information
Birth name	Ovidiu Cernăuţeanu
Also known as	Ovi Martin, Ovidou Jacobsen, Ovi
Born	(1974-08-23) 23 August 1974
Origin	Romania
Genres	pop, Pop-rock
Occupations	singer-songwriter, producer
Instruments	Piano, Vocals
Years active	2008—present
Labels	A&A Records, Unicorn Records
Associated acts	Paula Seling

Ovidiu Cernăuţeanu (Romanian pronunciation: [oˈvidju t͡ʃernəuˈt͡se̯anu]; b. 23 August 1974, Botoşani^[1]), also known as Ovi Martin, Ovidiu Jacobsen, or widely known as his Eurovision alias Ovi is a Romanian-born Norwegian singer-songwriter, producer and musician. He rose to fame in his adoptive country Norway in 2008 when he first took part in the Melodi Grand Prix 2008 where he didn't qualify to the final. The next year he was a finalist of the Melodi Grand Prix 2009 but lost to Alexander Ryback. In 2010 he participated in the Selectia Nationala 2010 for Romania alongside Paula Seling. They won with song "Playing with Fire" with which they represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. They qualified for the grand final where they took the third position, only behind winner Germany and runner-up Turkey. After Eurovision, Ovi released a duet album with Seling and released a couple of radio singles "Counting Down" and "Calling You (Hello, Hello)". In 2012 he was back in the Melodi Grand Prix 2012 this time as a songwriter along with Thomas G:son and Tommy Berre for the song "High On Love" as performed by Reidun Sæther. The song qualified for the final. Apart from the European recognition, Ovi has also entered several music charts with songs like "Seven Seconds" (2009), "Playing with Fire" (2010) or "Calling You (Hello, Hello)" (2011) — the latter two are featuring Paula Seling. He is also the Popularity Award winner of the 2009 Golden Stag Festival. He is planning a return to the Selecţia Naţională to represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.^[2]

Melodi Grand Prix

Ovidiu Cernăuţeanu submitted several songs written and performed by himself for the Melodi Grand Prix selections in the last 2000s but was only selected towards the semi-finals twice. In 2008 his entry had no success, while in the Melodi Grand Prix 2009 he was in for the Final on February 21 with the song "Seven Seconds" but didn't qualify for the Golden Final. The song was even though a mild chart success, entering the top-fifteen of the VG-lista at number-twelve.^[3]

Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Cernăuţeanu represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 (as Ovi) in a duet with Paula Seling. They performed "Playing with Fire", which was composed by Cernăuţeanu himself.^[4][5] They passed the second semi-final, where they were the fourth. In the Grand Final, Seling and Ovi performed the nineteenth (after France and before Russia). At the voting, they got 164 points and classed the third that night, equaling the best result for Romania in the contest. They received 12 points from Moldova, 10 points from United Kingdom, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, etc. Only eight countries didn't give the top ten points to them that night.

After Eurovision

After Eurovision, Ovi recorded some new materials alongside Paula Seling and they released a duet album entitled Playing with Fire in Romania and Norway exclusively. The album didn't fare well and neither did the singles promoted. The title song even though entered several European charts, including the famous UK Singles Chart. The A side/B side release "Counting Down"/"Calling You (Hello, Hello)" was a little less successful. It was only promoted in Romania via live performances and the songs received no music video. The latter one entered the Romanian Top 100 in 2011. In late 2011, Ovi started a new musical project with Seling after a short hiatus.

Returning to Eurovision

In early 2012 it was officially confirmed that Ovidou Jacobsen (Ovi's alias) submitted a song to the Melodi Grand Prix 2012. The music and lyrics are composed by himself, Thomas G:son and Tommy Berre. The composition is a eurodance song entitled "High On Love" and it is performed by Reidun Sæther. The song was the third most voted song of the first semi-final so it preceded to the grand final to be held on February 11, 2012. If it will win, the song will represent Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Another attempt to return to Eurovision in 2012 Ovi makes is alongside fellow Paula Seling, to whom he intends to submit an entry for the Selecţia Naţională 2012 so they can represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest once again.

References