| Elnur Hussein | |
| Birth Name: | Elnur Huseynov |
| Birth Date: | 3 March 1987 |
| Birth Place: | Ashkhabad, Turkmen SSR, USSR |
| Origin: | Baku, Azerbaijan |
| Label: | BEAT Music |
| Years Active: | 2003–present |
| Website: | http://elnurhussein.com |
Elnur Hussein (born 3 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani singer. He was the first Azerbaijan's representative to perform "Day After Day" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 alongside Samir Javadzadeh as duo Elnur and Samir. In 2015, he won the fourth season of The Voice of Turkey and represented Azerbaijan in the 60th Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Hour of the Wolf".
Elnur Hussein was born in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, to ethnic Azeri parents. His father was a military serviceman and his mother specializes in music theory. At age five, Elnur was admitted to a music school where he was trained as a piano player. In 1999, the family moved to Baku, Azerbaijan, where Elnur studied at a medical school and graduated with a degree in dentistry. In 2004, he graduated from the Asaf Zeynally Music College and took up hairstylist courses. He worked shortly at the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre and with the choir group of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society, in addition to singing in a church choir.[1]
In 2003, he received first prize in the musical competition Sing Your Song aired on Azerbaijan's Lider TV.
See main article: Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Elnur Hussein and Samir Javadzadeh were selected to represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, marking the country's debut in this song contest. Identified as the duo Elnur and Samir, together they sang "Day After Day". They were placed eighth in the finals. Following the contest, the duo split.
In December 2009, Elnur Hüseynov announced his intention to move permanently to Ukraine to further pursue his musical career.[2] In June 2010, Elnur Hüseynov performed the part of Phoebus in the musical Notre-Dame de Paris, which was staged in Heydar Aliyev Palace.[3]
In October 2010, he submitted an application to represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011[4] but did not compete in the semifinals, with the exception of making a cameo appearance in one of the performances of the semifinalist Diana Hajiyeva.[5]
Elnur Hüseynov later performed in the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall.[6]
See main article: O Ses Türkiye. In 2014, Huseynov, while on a visit to Istanbul applied to take part in season 4 of O Ses Türkiye, the Turkish version of The Voice. During the blind auditions, and on the 19th session broadcast on 1 December 2014 broadcast on the Turkish station TV8, singing "Latch" from the British garage-house duo Disclosure featuring vocals from Sam Smith. All four judges turned their chairs. Upon insistence of the judges and the public, he also performed on his audition five additional traditional and pop tunes, including "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" from Eurythmics and "Aşk" from Sertab Erener. Judge Gökhan Özoğuz joined on stage to sing with the contestant in his final audition rendition. With rave comments and comments from all judges, he opted to be on judge Ebru Gündeş's team.
The strong favourite throughout the season, on 18 February 2015, Elnur Hüseynov was declared the winner of the O Ses Türkiye season,[7] with Kaya Aslantepe as runner-up.
His performances during the season:
See main article: Eurovision Song Contest 2015. Elnur Hüseynov represented Azerbaijan for a second time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Hour of the Wolf".[8] He finished in 12th place in the final.