Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu

Who is Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu?

Ovidiu Cernăuţeanu, also known as Ovi Martin, Ovidiu Jacobsen, or widely known as his Eurovision alias Ovi is a Romanian-born Norwegian singer-songwriter, producer and musician. He rose to fame in his adoptive country Norway in 2008 when he first took part in the Melodi Grand Prix 2008 where he didn't qualify to the final. The next year he was a finalist of the Melodi Grand Prix 2009 but lost to Alexander Ryback. In 2010 he participated in the Selectia Nationala 2010 for Romania alongside Paula Seling. They won with song "Playing with Fire" with which they represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. They qualified for the grand final where they took the third position, only behind winner Germany and runner-up Turkey. After Eurovision, Ovi released a duet album with Seling and released a couple of radio singles "Counting Down" and "Calling You". In 2012 he was back in the Melodi Grand Prix 2012 this time as a songwriter along with Thomas G:son and Tommy Berre for the song "High On Love" as performed by Reidun Sæther. The song qualified for the final. Apart from the European recognition, Ovi has also entered several music charts with songs like "Seven Seconds", "Playing with Fire" or "Calling You" — the latter two are featuring Paula Seling. He is also the Popularity Award winner of the 2009 Golden Stag Festival. He is planning a return to the Selecţia Naţională to represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.