15 Famous Artists You Didn't Know Competed In Eurovision
5. T.A.t.u. - Ne Ver’, Ne Boisia (Russia)
What Are They Known For? t.A.t.u was a Russian girl duo act consisting of Julia Volkova and Lena Katina. Their songs mixed catchy melodies with controversial lyrics implying lesbian subtext. t.A.t.u. was the first Russian music act to break out on an international scale with the single All the Things She Said, which hit high spots in music charts across several countries.
At Eurovision (Third Place): It was because of their extraordinary success with All the Things She Said that t.A.t.u. were chosen to represent Russia for the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga, Latvia.
They performed eleventh out of twenty-six countries with the song Ne Ver', Ne Boysia (Don't Believe, Don't Fear), but they came into Eurovision with bad press on their shoulders due to the controversy over their lesbian schoolgirl image. The European Broadcasting Union even planned a back-up recording of t.A.t.u's in case they did something scandalous (ie. lesbian) on live TV.
Despite this, t.A.t.u earned enough points (including five twelve-point scores) to end up in the top three positions. In the closest finish since Céline Dion's one point win in 1988, t.A.t.u. came in third place with 164 points, with only Belgium (runner-up) and Turkey (winner) ahead of them by one and two points respectfully.
After Eurovision: For the rest of the 2000s, t.A.t.u produced six studio albums (three Russian and three English) and several more hit singles like Not Gonna Get Us, and All About Us. In 2011, Julia and Lena split up, but they tried to reconcile and made one of their last performances together as t.A.t.u. singing Not Gonna Get Us in Russian at the 2014 Sochi Olympic opening ceremony. As of now, t.A.t.u. remains permanently disbanded.