Alexey Vorobyov

Alexey Vladimirovich Vorobyov (Russian: Алексей Владимирович Воробьёв; 19 January 1988) is a Russian singer and actor who performs both in Russian and English. For international purposes Vorobyov is also credited as Alex Sparrow, a translation of his Russian name. He is best known for appearing on the Russian version of The X Factor at the age of 17 in 2005.^[1] In 2006 Vorobyov was contracted by Universal Music Russia,^[2] and in December 2007 was appointed as a goodwill ambassador for Y-PEER, a youth-based initiative of the United Nations Population Fund.^[2][3] Vorobyov represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany.

Early life

Alex was born on 19 January 1988 in Tula (Russian:Тула), RSFSR, Soviet Union. His father was head of a company and his mother remained at home as a housewife. Alex played football as a child and played for the local youth team in Tula. At first he wanted to pursue a career in sports, but later chose to pursue music as his profession.

Music career

Alex studied the accordion at the College Of Music. Whilst there, he participated in many competitions. When Alex graduated he decided to return to the musical school, however this time he opted to study in the vocal department. For a short period of time, he was the lead singer of the Tula folklore ensemble "Delight".

In 2005 Alex won the gold medal for his solo performance at the Delphic Games IV. In the same year Alex went to Moscow where he was ranked #3 in a TV competition. He later moved to Moscow and entered more competitions. In 2006, he signed a contract for Universal Music Russia. In July of that year Alex was one of the performers at the "Big Eight" which was held in St. Petersburg. He was one of the executors of "Youth Eight" and was also given the opportunity to sing during the closing ceremony. In 2007, Alex won an MTV award for upcoming artists.

Vorobyov from performing "Get You" at Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf

In 2008 and 2009 he competed in the Russian national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest with the songs New Russian Kalinka and Angelom Biht but lost to Dima Bilan and Anastasia Prikhodko respectively. On March 5, 2011 he was eventually selected to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, with the song "Get You", written by highly successful Moroccan producer Nadir Khayat (RedOne). In 2008, he entered the national selections for the Russian Eurovision song with "New Russian Kalinka", he came in fifth place.

He returned in 2009 but was forced to withdraw his entry due to employment schedule conflict. Alex was finally chosen to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and was internally selected. He finished 16th overall in the contest. After recovering from a serious car accident he suffered in early 2013, Alex Sparrow is back with music he has written, composed and arranged himself. Called Friend project, it is a collaboration with his friend, Russian actor Sergei Romanovich.^[4] The latter had already appeared in Laskoviy Mai, a film about the career of the famous Soviet band of the same name.

Acting career

His acting career took off in 2006 when he starred in "Alice's Dream". Alex later enrolled in acting school. Spring 2008 saw Alex graduate from the theater school. He later became a student of the Moscow Art Theater School. Once his employment in acting was well established, Alex left the school. In 2010, Alex took part in a reality series called "Cruel Intentions", he made it to the finals finishing in second place. Later that year, he enlisted as a candidate on the TV show "Ice and Fire" in which he paired up with the famous ice-skater Tatiana Navka (Russian: Татьяна Навка). Despite an arm injury Alex continued his participation in the show.

Filmography

• The Phobos
• The Vatican Tapes (2015)
• Unreal (TV series) (2017)

Personal life

On 22 January 2013 Vorobyov was seriously injured and suffered brain trauma after a car crash accident in Los Angeles, United States. Alexey was taken to hospital with a traumatic brain injury and several other injuries and put in intensive care.^[5][6] He recovered and slowly returned to recording and acting.^[4]

Discography

Singles

• 2006 — Leto(summer)
• 2007 — Alisa
• 2007 — Devchonka(girl)
• 2007 — Seychas ili Nikogda(now or never)
• 2007 — Russkie Zabili(russian's forgot)
• 2008 — Desire
• 2008 — New Russian Kalinka
• 2008 — Toska
• 2008 — Ti i Ya(you and i)
• 2008 — Zabud Menya(forget me)
• 2009 — Accordeon
• 2009 — Reality
• 2010 — Shout It Out
• 2011 — Get You
• 2015 — Sumasshedshaya (English: She's crazy but she's mine)
• 2016 — Samaja Krasiwaja (English: The beauty)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexey Vorobyov (musician).

External links

• (in Russian) Official website
• Alexey Vorobyov on IMDb

Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 to 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Artists 1990s Youddiph Philipp Kirkorov Andrey Kosinskiy Alla Pugacheva 1998 1999 2000s Alsou Mumiy Troll Prime Minister t.A.T.u. Julia Savicheva Natalia Podolskaya Dima Bilan Serebro Dima Bilan Anastasiya Prikhodko 2010s Peter Nalitch Alexey Vorobyov Buranovskiye Babushki Dina Garipova Tolmachevy Sisters Polina Gagarina Sergey Lazarev Yulia Samoilova
Songs 1990s "Vyechniy stranik" "Kolibelnaya dlya vulkana" Ya eto ya "Primadonna" 1998 1999 2000s "Solo" "Lady Alpine Blue" "Northern Girl" "Ne ver', ne boysia" "Believe Me" "Nobody Hurt No One" "Never Let You Go" "Song #1" "Believe" "Mamo" 2010s "Lost and Forgotten" "Get You" "Party for Everybody" "What If" "Shine" "A Million Voices" "You Are the Only One" "Flame Is Burning"
Note: Entries scored out are when Russia did not compete