An Xtra Happy Birthday; July 11th

Three days without any Eurovision birthdays is finally over, and we are back with two (edit; three!) birthday Eurostars today! And we have to say; these two are about as different as they get.
One man, one woman (no, not the ABBA song…). One ballad, one very much not a ballad. One northerner, one southerner. One in his 40s, on in her 20s. One is a beauty, one is a…beast? They did however participate in the same year!
*Edit; As we are working our way through each year to find all the participants’ birthdays, we sometimes find names that should have been included in the past articles. Those will of course be included next year. Today, however, we found one who celebrates his birthday TODAY, and that merits an edit, we think! So; congratulations also go to Latvia on this beautiful July Tuesday!
Well, let’s not waste any more time!

OX, 42

OX, or actually Samer el Nahhal, is the current bassist of Lordi. He has been part of the band since 2005, and his character OX is a minotaur. A minotaur is a creature from the Greek mythology, and is half man, half bull. As part of Lordi, OX brought home the only Finnish Eurovision victory to date, with the “very much not a ballad” “Hard Rock Hallelujah” in 2006. Today he celebrates his 42nd birthday, and we wish him an Xtra rocky birthday!

Lauris, 38

Lauris Reiniks represented Latvia in the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest on home soil in Riga. He was one third of the group F.L.Y., that had been put together especially for the contest. Lauris is the guy who sings the first lines in the performance. They performed the song “Hello From Mars”, but unfortunately they only finished in 24th place. We send our warmest congratulations to Lauris, wishing him an Xtra super birthday!

Liel, 28

Liel Kolet, though she’s from Israel, represented Switzerland in the 2006 Eurovision. She did so as part of six4one, a group composed of six singers from six different countries. They performed Ralph Siegel’s song “If We All Give a Little”, finishing 16th in the grand final. We wish Liel a Xtra peaceful and united 28th birthday!