Emmelie de Forest



Emmelie Charlotte-Victoria de Forest (born 28 February 1993) is a Danish singer-songwriter. She represented Denmark with the song "Only Teardrops" in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, winning the contest. Her debut album Only Teardrops was released on the Universal Music label on 6 May 2013.

Early career
De Forest began singing at the age of nine and sang with her mother in the Steve Cameron Gospel Choir for several years. From the age of 14, she began performing at music festivals and small venues with Scottish folk musician Fraser Neill. According to Neill, they made an album together titled Emmelié de Forest and Fraser Neill that sold only 100 copies. When De Forest was 18 years old, she ended her collaboration with Neill and moved to Copenhagen to study at the Complete Vocal Institute.

2013: Eurovision Song Contest and Only Teardrops
De Forest was one of ten acts that performed in the 2013 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix for a chance to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. On 26 January 2013, she performed the song Only Teardrops (written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen and Thomas Stengaard) and won the national selection.

Her debut album, Only Teardrops, was released on 6 May, a week before her performance in the Eurovision contest. The album has twelve tracks, including the original and symphonic versions of "Only Teardrops."

On 14 May, de Forest reached the final of the Eurovision, being one of the ten finalists that qualified from the first semi-final. According to British bookmakers, de Forest became the odds on favourite to win the contest. De Forest won the 2013 Eurovision final on 18 May with a total of 281 points, 47 points more than second place finisher Farid Mammadov of Azerbaijan.

She performed her Eurovision winning entry at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Kiev, Ukraine on 30 November. In December it was revealed that Emmelie de Forest had been awarded the Årets Europæer Award (The European of the year Award) by the Danish European Movement.

2014-present: Rainmaker and Super Festival
On 7 February Emmelie de Forest uploaded a video that spoke about her third Single "Rainmaker" and explained the meaning of the song and previewed it. It is the official #JoinUs song for Eurovision Song Contest 2014 and she will perform the song live during the final at the B&W Hallerne, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Talking about the song Emmelie said, "It is about a tribe joining together to call upon the rainmaker to make their land blossom again. But on a more general level the rainmaker can be anything or anyone – it is about coming together and helping each other out". She also talked about enjoying success after winning Eurovision last year, "I’ve been performing my music around Europe, released my debut album and written a lot of new songs – to be honest, I’m living my dream!".

On 11 February it was announced that Emmelie will compete in the Super Festival 1 in Germany, with her song "Rainmaker".

Personal life
De Forest was born in Randers, Denmark, to a Danish mother and Swedish father, Ingvar de Forest (1938–2010). Following her parents' divorce when she was young, she grew up with her mother in Mariager, Denmark. According to De Forest, she was raised with the impression that her father descends from an illegitimate child of Edward VII, which would have made her the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Danmarks Radio used the story of her claim to royal ancestry in its promotion of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, but prior to the Eurovision contest, it determined the claim could not be confirmed.