Chiara Siracusa

Chiara Siracusa
Chiara (2009)
Background information
Birth name	Chiara Siracusa
Born	September 25, 1976 (1976-09-25) (age 35) (Senglea)
Genres	Soul
Occupations	Singer
Years active	1998–present

Chiara Siracusa (born 25 September 1976), is a Maltese singer, best known for representing her country in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, 2005, and in 2009.

Biography

Eurovision 1998

In 1998, she 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 so 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 a heartbreak in the end, as 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 qualify as Malta's best ever placing at the time, from the 1992 contest. Chiara told in a BBC interview two years later that she cried for several hours in the bathroom of her hotel suite after losing at Eurovision, but she came to see her high scoring as an achievement.

Continued success

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 transformed herself from a shy singer to a confident international entertainer, and recorded three albums. She performed extensively outside Malta and then, under the guidance of Maltese recording studio Bridge Productions, started preparing for yet another attempt to crack the Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision 2005

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 and composed 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 Kiev, Ukraine.

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. Siracusa scored more points than Malta's other Eurovision runner-up, Ira Losco, making "Angel" the most successful Maltese entry of all time.

After the result in 2005, Chiara had been working a lot around Malta and abroad, most notably in Greece and Cyprus. She hosted the Malta Song for Europe in 2008 and as well as being the supporting act of the Nicky Webster concert. Chiara also gained recognition for owning the largest Anthony Callea back catalogue in the whole of Malta, winning her "The Golden Malteser"

Eurovision 2009

The loss of her father in 2008 became tough time for Chiara, but as a tribute to him she was even more determined to achieve further success. Chiara returned to the Malta Eurosong finals with a song composed by Belgian songwriters Gregory Bilsen and Marc Paelinck. On 7 February 2009, Chiara won the Maltese preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. She represented Malta in the first semi final in Moscow with her song What If We on 12 May. She qualified to the grand final, held on May 16, and finished 22nd in the final vote.

With her three entries accumulating a total of 388 points, Chiara became also the third most successful Eurovision artist in terms of total points earned in her performances, behind Russia's Dima Bilan and Sweden's Carola

2010: After Eurovision, new album

Chiara Siracusa in concert, 2011

Siracusa is planning her next album. She also was the spokesperson for Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, giving the points awarded from the Maltese voting in the final. In June 2010, she released the Official Malta Gay Pride Anthem, "Believe (We Are One)" featuring R&B singer Muxu and House DJ Chunky, which entered the Maltese Top 40.

Charted Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions
		German Singles Chart
2005	"Angel"	95[1]

Eurovision Entries

"The One That I Love"

"Angel"

"What If We"

Personal life

Chiara lives in Malta with her daughter Epponnee-Rae

Discography

• 1998: Shades Of One
• 2000: What You Want
• 2003: Covering Diversions
• 2005: Here I Am

External links

• Chiara Siracusa on Myspace

Preceded by Debbie Scerri with "Let Me Fly"	Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998	Succeeded by Times Three with "Believe 'n Peace"
Preceded by Julie & Ludwig with "On Again... Off Again"	Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005	Succeeded by Fabrizio Faniello with "I Do"
Preceded by Morena with "Vodka"	Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009	Succeeded by Thea Garrett with "My Dream"

Persondata
Name	Siracusa, Chiara
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1976-09-25
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death