Marie N
Marie N is the stage name of Marija Naumova (b. June 23 1973), winner of the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest.A Latvian (though ethnically Russian) singer competing for Latvia, her performance of I wanna wowed the crowd and the voters at the contest, not only with a boppy tune but with the lithe Ms. Naumova gradually stripping down from a gender-bending white suit and hat through several configurations into a long red dress. She also wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the tune.
Naumova is apparently a popular performer in Latvia, singing a broad range of music ranging from pop, through musical theatre jazz, has recorded several albums (her latest in French), and also possesses a law degree from the University of Latvia.
She was discovered by famous Latvian musicians in 1994 and after a year she performed on tv in searches for talent. She never won but again and again she was noticed by the audience.
She performed in the concert dedicated to th 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 real boost and she now could participate in several music events, television and radio shows and she gave interviews for Latvian newspapers.
Marija Naumova's first solo album was released in 1999. The album was completely in Russian. In 2000 Latvia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. Marija was in the national finals but she became second behind Brainstorm. In 2001 she was chosen by the audience to represent her country in the contest with Hey boy follow me. Unfortunately, the expert jury had another opinion so she had to wait for one more year until I wanna brought her and Latvia to a victory.
In november of her victory year she recorded a new solo album, or in fact, two: one in English, and one in French. She presented the albums to the audience by a tour throughout Latvia.
Marija Naumova co-hosted the 2003 contest.
