Julia Samoylova

Julia Samoylova Biography

Yuliya Olegovna Samoylova (Russian: Юлия Олеговна Самойлова, born 7 April 1989), sometimes credited as Yulia Samoilova or Julia Samoylova, is a Russian singer and composer. Early life Yuliya was born in Ukhta, Komi ASSR, Russian SFSR, USSR. As a child, Samoylova began losing function of her legs due to spinal muscular atrophy and has used a wheelchair since childhood. The singer says that exacerbation of the hereditary disease could follow after an unsuccessful poliomyelitis vaccination (Channel One and TASS also take this view), but specialists deny such a connection. Samoylova started her career performing for oil workers at a restaurant in her hometown of Ukhta. In 2008 she founded the band "TerraNova" which played heavy alternative music. TerraNova disintegrated in 2010. Music career She studied psychology at the Modern Humanitarian Academy until 2010, when she let without having graduated. In 2013, Samoylova was the runner-up of season three of Faktor A, the Russian version of The X Factor. The following year, she also took part in the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Paralympics. Samoylova was selected on 12 March 2017 to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 held in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, with the song "Flame Is Burning". On 13 March 2017 the Security Service of Ukraine announced that they might bar her from entering Ukraine due to her visiting Crimea (a peninsula that was unilaterally annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014) in 2015. According to Ukrainian law entering Crimea via Russia is illegal. Samoylova has stated that she did perform in Crimea in 2015. On 22 March 2017 the Security Service of Ukraine banned Samoylova from entering Ukraine for three years.