With my studio winter recital on the weekend, I nearly forgot about this week's artist of the week. We wrap up our exploration of Russian music with Dima Bilan. Bilan is a Russian pop star who burst onto the international scene in 2006 when he represented his country at The Eurovision Song Contest. He snagged second place with his hit single Never Let You Go. In 2008, he won first place at The Eurovision Contest with Believe:

Bilan has released three platinum albums: Ia Nochnoy Hooligan (The Night Hooligan, 2003), Na Beregu Neba (Between the Sky and Heaven, 2004) and Vremya-Reva (Time Is a River, 2006), which sold over 2,000,000 copies in Russia and CIS.

He has collaborated with songwriter Diane Warren, who wrote Céline Dion's My Heart Will Go Onand Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing. In 2006, Dima Bilan was one of the four artists who participated in the biggest musical event in Russia of 2006 - The Red Summer show in Red Square in Moscow, where he performed on stage with Shakira, The Black Eyed Peas and t.A.T.u..

Check out Dima's CD's by clicking on the icon: