Ekaterina Shklyaeva who represented Russia at Eurovision as part of Buranovskiye Babushki has died at the age of 86.
Member of the memorable Eurovision representatives Buranovskiye Babushki, Ekaterina Shklyaeva has passed away at the age of 86. She was of one six members of the group that represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku with “Party for Everybody”.
The Head of the Republic of Udmurtia commented:
Ekaterina Semenovna Shklyaeva, one of the “Grandmothers from Buranovo”, has passed away. She was a tuning fork for the group, both in song and in life. She put her soul into everything she did and always inspired those around her with her willpower. A huge loss for the entire republic,
The Buranovskiye Babushki finished second in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, having previously finished third in the Russian selection in 2010 with “Dlinnaja-dlinnaja beresta i kak sdelat’ iz nee ajšon”. In Baku, the group received points from every participating country apart from Switzerland and received 12 points from Belarus, they also received 10 points from five countries.
The Eurovoix team would like to express our condolences to Ekaterina Shklyaeva’s family and friends at this difficult time.
Image Source: Eurovision.tv | Source: ESC Portugal
Russia debuted in Eurovision in 1994 and has gone on to be one of the most successful countries in the contest. Russia was the most successful country in the first decade of the 21st century, including two third places in 2003 and 2007, two second places in 2000 and 2006 and their first and only victory in 2008. Dima Bilan won the contest in Belgrade with the song “Believe”. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia was excluded from the contest in 2022. All of the Russian EBU members then withdrew from the EBU, making Russia ineligible to participate in any future contests.
