A Vocal Artist of Russia: Ёлка

    Ёлка is a popular singer-songwriter-producer in Russia. Her full name is Єлизавета Вальдемарівна Іванців and she was born in 1982 on July 2, in Uzhhorod, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Although she was born in the Ukranian SSR, Ёлка is half Ukrainian and half Russian. She grew up in a very musical family where her father was a jazz music collector and her mother was a musician, playing three instruments.
      Given her musical background she was bound to end up doing something with music and she started young. In the mid −1990s, became part of the Christmas tree Uzhgorod group "B & B", where she performed as a backing vocalist. She went on with the group "B & B" for a few more years until she became a soloist in 2004. Ёлка's first well-known and award winning single was called "Девочка-студентка" which was on her second album in 2006 known as Тени. In 2011, she gained great popularity with the song "Прованс" and was nominated in three categories at the Muz-TV 2011. That album that followed this single received positive reviews from critics, who considered it the best pop album of 2011. Also in 2011, she was recognized as the Singer of the Year by Glamour magazine and among the ten most successful people in Ukrainian show business, according to the publication Focus. By the end of 2012, she was recognized as the most played performer on Russian radio stations.
     From, 2010 to 2012 Ёлка worked as a judge on the Ukrainian X-Factor. Elka is three time winner of the "Golden Gramophone" award ( for the songs "Мальчик-красавчик", "Прованс" and "Около тебя" ) and nominated for RMA channel MTV. Ёлка is still working and singing today and here are some of her songs that I personally enjoy: