Intars Busulis Jazz and pop performer Date of Birth: 02.05.1978 Country: Latvia

Biography of Intars Busulis

Intars Busulis, a jazz and pop performer, was born on May 2, 1978, in the small Latvian town of Talsi. From a young age, his parents paid great attention to nurturing his artistic abilities. At the age of eight, he began studying trombone at a music school and also attended an art school and danced in a folk ensemble called "Talsu Spridisi". Following the footsteps of his older sister, Intars enrolled in the Ventspils Music College after completing his music school education. There, he joined the Ventspils Big Band led by Ziedlnis Zaikovskis.

Intars served in the Latvian Armed Forces orchestra during his military service and also worked as a radio host for "Radio SWF". Like any aspiring artist, Busulis went through the stage of forming his own group. In 1999, he and Raymond Tigulis formed the boy band "Caffe", where Intars became the lead vocalist. The group performed for four years, gaining considerable recognition for their level of talent.

In 2003, Intars Busulis and tenor saxophonist Vilnis Kundrats formed the jazz group Wet Point, which performed at jazz festivals in various countries, including Lithuania's "Kaunas Jazz" and Estonia's "Nomme Jazz", as well as in France ("Midem") and Canada ("Ottawa Jazz"). In 2004, Busulis won the Grand Prix at the Baltic Jazz Vocalists Competition "Sony Jazz Stage" and later another prize at the improvisation competition in Parnu.

Starting from 2005, Busulis performed in Canada and European countries with Erik Mosholm (Denmark) as part of his jazz orchestra, the European Youth (E.Y.J.O). However, Intars started to contemplate a solo career. In 2004, he participated in the qualifying competition for "New Wave" in Jurmala. Luck smiled upon him in the summer of 2005 when the jury of "New Wave", which included notable figures like Pauls, Meladze, Krutoy, Agutin, and Vaikule, unanimously awarded him first place and a prize of $35,000.

In the same year, Busulis released his debut English-language album "Shades of Kiss". He actively toured and participated in various musicals, as well as began collaborating with composer Karlis Lacis. Together, they created songs in Latvian and Russian, which comprised the album "Kino". In 2008, Busulis embarked on a concert tour throughout Latvia to promote the album, which was highly successful, and his song "Brivdiena" entered the charts of music channels and radio stations.

The next stage of Intars Busulis' career was his participation in the prestigious competition, "Eurovision", held in Moscow in 2009. The singer successfully passed all the selection rounds and represented Latvia with the song "Sastregums" ("Traffic Jam"). Singing in Russian was an unexpected move for a Latvian artist, but Busulis explained that he was more fluent in Russian than in English. The song made it to the second semi-final.

From then on, Busulis actively collaborated with Raymond Pauls, resulting in the release of the album "Daĭ Bog" in 2010. The album included songs performed by Intars Busulis, composed by Pauls with lyrics by poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The singer's popularity continued to rise, and in 2013, he was invited to the Dailis Theater in Riga, where he performed in the musical "Onegin" for two years, playing the role of Pushkin.

In addition to his singing career, Busulis continued to pursue his passion for playing the trombone and became a member of the big band on Latvian Radio. In Russia, he actively collaborated with Elena Vaenga since 2013. They performed the composition "Neva" together, which was featured in Vaenga's solo concerts in St. Petersburg and Busulis' performance in Jurmala, as well as at the "Golden Gramophone" awards ceremony. The song entered the playlists of numerous radio stations, including "Dorozhnoe Radio," "Vesna," "Piter FM," and others. In April 2014, "Neva" topped the hit parade of "Shanson" radio and remained in the rankings for three weeks.

In the summer of 2014, the duet made their debut on Channel One and later on the "Russia" channel. Vaenga and Busulis recorded another song called "Lena," and Vaenga also translated Busulis' old hit "Brivdiena" into Russian. The new lyrics were titled "Gravitatsiya," and the duet performed it at Elena Vaenga's concert in September 2014. In the same year, Busulis made a surprising move for his fans by participating in the TV show "The Voice," hosted by Channel One. Although his friends applied on his behalf without his knowledge, Busulis decided to join the popular show after his candidacy was approved by the selection jury.

During the blind auditions, he impressed the organizers of "The Voice" with his performance of the jazz standard "It Don't Mean a Thing," combining singing with his trombone playing. Notable singers Leonid Agutin and Pelageya expressed their desire to mentor Intars. Under Agutin's guidance, Busulis convincingly won in the "Battle Rounds" against Michael Blais with the song "Play That Funky Music." Contrasting with this well-known composition was his performance of the song "I Draw You," dedicated to the memory of the late Estonian singer Jaak Joala. With this song, Intars Busulis won in the "Knockout Rounds" and advanced to the quarter-finals, where he confidently moved forward with the song by Pauls and Yevtushenko, "I Love You More Than Nature." In the final concert of the show, he opened with Billy Joel's iconic song "Honesty".

Busulis' new projects included the TV show "Look-alikes," where he successfully transformed into the controversial celebrity Boris Moiseev, who praised Busulis' portrayal. His performances as Nikolai Rastorguev, Billy Joel, Joe Dassin, and other celebrities were also well-received. In the summer of 2015, the singer plans to record his new album "Gravitatsiya," with a presentation scheduled for the autumn.

As for Intars Busulis' personal life, he prefers to keep it private. It is known that he is happily married and a loving father to a son and two daughters.