Hovig Demirjian or Demirdjian was born on 3 January 1989 in Nicosia, Cyprus, and is of Armenian descent.[2] He studied marketing and worked in business, but quickly gave up in order to become a singer. He learned to play the guitar and piano and also studied jazz and vocals. His first major achievement was placing second in a musical competition in Larnaca. He became well known in Cyprus with the nickname "The Music Messenger". On June 1, 2009, he released "Den mou milas alithina (Istoria exei teleiwsei)" (in Greek "Δεν μού μιλάς - ιστορία έχει τελειώσει") under the mononym Hovig accompanied by a music video in preparation for the Greek X Factor. The song was written by Argiro Christodoulidou and music video directed by Kostas Voniatis.
After X factor, he returned to Cyprus developing a solo music career. He released a number of singles including the Greek-language songs "Ksana" (in Greek Ξανά) in 2010, "Mystika" (in Greek Μυστικά) in 2012 and "Ekho ya mena" (in Greek "Εγω Για Μένα") in 2013. He also toured internationally performing in various concerts in Greece, the Middle East and Russia.
Eurovision Song Contest
Following The X Factor Greece, Demirjian competed to represent Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions; 2010 and 2015. In 2010, he placed third with "Goodbye", and in 2015, he placed fourth with "Stone in a River".[4]
On 21 October 2016, Demirjian was announced as the Cypriot entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[5] His song, "Gravity", was written by Swedish composer Thomas G:son and was released on March 1, 2017.[6] He performed in the first semi-final of the contest and qualified to the final, where he placed 21st. The following two years, he was the Cypriot spokesperson.[7]