Ovi

Despite his 37 years Ovi is now entering for the most important part of his musical life. Early 2009 he released his debut album "This Gig Almost Got Me Killed", a solid result of hard work with help andinfluencefrom experiencedprofessionals from the music business. Still, this is not all new for Ovi. Ovi's talent was noticed while he was just a kid. He proclaims that he at early age realized that music sounded "different" in his ears, and no doubt about it. In his early years he listened actively to music and he actually discovered his voice "by accident" while imitating everybody from "We Are The World". Ovi was born in the north of Romania, in a town named Botosani, the last years ofcommunism. The access to western music at the time was limited if notimpossibleto get hold of, so most of his first musical influences was gained through summer camp and music schools. When he was only 14 years old Ovi earned his first prize in a national singing contest called "Florile Dragostei" leaded by the prestigious romanian composer – Horia Moculescu and that was probably all he needed to be sure that it was a musician “he was meantto be”. The following years, he spent playing in different bands. First with his father and then with his former music teacher. In the early 90's Ovi was old enough and able to record a demo with a friend, and together they went out to chase the big dream - first stop was Germany. Unfortunately the tour didn't give them the dream start they were hoping for as they illegally tried to cross the border and got caught. Luckily they only had to spend a few hours in prison . As an obvious observation, Ovi has always been very dedicated to his dreams Back in Romania Ovi began to play in a band withprofessionalmusicians, among them was one of Romanias most famous composers Virgil Popescu. When Ovi was 18 years old he travelled with this band to Tokyo, Japan, where they stayed for a year. Ovi describes this as his "music school" period. They practiced every day, sat the standards high while playing at The Hiltons and not least; Ovi got the opportunity to see his biggest heroes play live. After a year in Japan the banddismantled and Ovi got a job offer to play in Norway. Both his first music teacher and several other musician friends already lived in Norway so for Ovi it was almost like coming home. He made new friends, found love and have since that become a real Norwegian. Over the years there has also been a number of small musical projects abroad. For instance he made the "Nanu Disco" project in Greenland together with the Danish producer Morten "Starman" Stjernholm. This was Greenland's first dance album and became a hugesuccesses – in Greenland. In Norway Ovi continued to play music at piano bars. He could play up to ahundred gigs a year and he liked the personal contact with the audience. By doing this he has become very comfortable and good at communicating with the audience while playing. This is the same way Ovi's big idol Billy Joel worked for years, as he wastravelingaround playing in bars under the name Bill Martin. Billy Joel has been - and still is - a big inspiration for Ovi, and this can be heard clearly in his music andperformance. Despite all experiences and adventures, Ovi describes the past years as the most important period of his life. He has competed in the Norwegian EurovisionSong Contest in 2006 with the song "The Better Side Of Me",ironicallyrepresented Norway in the Romanian "Golden Stag" in 2005. Springtime of 2006 he and his management in Mentor Promotion AS went to Los Angeles with the intention to record the ultimate album. Ovi says it was very educational to work with the famos American producer Preston Glass, he was the producer for Whitney Houston and Natalie Cole. However there was so muchmisunderstandings and broken promisseswith the record company that Ovi and his manager decided to cancel the project in Hollywood. Back in Norway Ovi got back in touch with Simen M. Eriksrud, the producer of Ovi'sentry to the Norwegian finals for Eurovision Song Contest and also the producer behind national Norwegian entry "Hold On, Be Strong" sung by Maria Haukaas Storeng two years later. Ovi's debut album was recorded in Livingroom Studios in Oslo with good help from Simen and Espen Berg. He did alsoreceivegood help from Simen's girlfriend, D'Sounds songwriter and lead vocalist Simone, who wrote the song "Seven Seconds" for his debut album. On this album a lot of the inspiration is gained from the 70's big piano and keyboard based singer-songwriters such as Billy Joel, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. Without a deadline or set rules the album has developed naturally - a process that has taken two years. For Ovi "This Gig Almost Got Me Killed" is the start of something new, and finally he's ready to release his work. Ovi is currently working on his second album. New single out now on iTunes: http://bit.ly/MiracleItunes • Spotify: http://bit.ly/MiracleSpotify • Deezer: http://bit.ly/MiracleDeezer