Image: Lauris Vīksne / LTV
He’s fast become one of the personalities of the season, but who is Dons? Keep reading to find out more about Latvia’s representative this year!
Dons, real name Artūrs Šingirejs, is a Latvian singer-songwriter. His musical abilities are highly celebrated in Latvia, having won “most played Song” eight times at the Latvian Music Recording Awards, as well as multiple nominations for “Song of the Year” at Muzikālās Banka. He rose to fame in 2003 on the Latvian reality show “Talantu Fabrika”, competing on numerous reality and talent shows, all whilst releasing highly acclaimed music.
As well as his singing career, Dons has also voiced Olaf in the Latvian adaptation of Disney’s Frozen in 2013. He even has links to past Latvian Eurovision alumni, through owning a café with Kaspars Roga, drummer of the band Brainstorm who represented Latvia in 2000 with the song “My Star”, and also through having mentored Aminata Savadogo on Jaunā Talantu Fabrikā in 2013, who went on to win the competition, two years before she also represented Latvia at Eurovision in 2015 with the song “Love Injected”.
Dons is no stranger to the world of Eurovision selections, having competed in both the 2010 and 2014 selections to represent Latvia, coming second both times. Dons was also a judge on the 2015 and 2017 editions of the Supernova preselection. 2024 has proven Latvia’s entry this year, “Hollow”, marks Dons’ first English-language song for years. The song has been described as a Hozier-esque pop ballad, and although has proven popular amongst some fans, has very much remained one of the underdogs of this year’s contest.
Do you think Dons will be able to break Latvia’s non-qualification streak and get the country back to the final? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to follow us on all socials!
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