Ani Lorak is a famous Ukrainian singer, actress, and TV presenter, People’s Artist of Ukraine. How did she achieve such fame? A full biography of Ani Lorak!
Ani Lorak – A Brief Reference
Name: Carolina Kuek
Date of birth: September 27, 1978 (age 40)
Zodiac sign: Libra
Place of birth: Kitsman, Ukraine
Occupation: singer, actress, model, presenter
Height: 162
Talented and charismatic Ani Lorak managed to take second place at Eurovision 2008 with the song “Shady Lady”.
However, this is not surprising, because her voice has a range of 4.5 octaves. Ani Lorak survived boarding school in her youth, and fate rewarded her with dizzying success in her career!
The biography of Ani Lorak is rich in various events – you can see this.
Childhood and youth of Ani Lorak
Ani Lorak’s real name is Karolina Miroslavovna Kuek. Carolina was born on September 27, 1978, in Kitzman, a small town located in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine.
Karolina’s father, Miroslav Ivanovich Kuek, who graduated from a music school as a conductor and the philological faculty of Chernivtsi University, worked as a journalist for a long time, and his mother, Zhanna Vasilievna Linkova, was an announcer on the regional radio.
Fate decreed that the parents of the future celebrity broke up before her birth.
And after the divorce, to feed a family of four, Carolina’s mother worked very hard. When the funds were not enough even for food, my mother had to place the children in a five-day kindergarten and in a boarding school and took them home for the weekend.
“I was born in an incomplete family. My parents divorced before I was born. But my mother knew, of course. And supported me in this desire. She is also a creative person – she worked as a radio announcer in the city of Chernivtsi. She always lingered on the air, worked out her programs to filigree.
Carolina was not the only child in the family. When she was born, she already had two older brothers – Sergey and Igor. In 1987, Sergei, who paid close attention to the development of his sister’s vocal abilities, died in Afghanistan.
From the age of 4, little Carolina’s dream was to sing on the big stage, but the conditions in which she was born were far from this.
When Carolina ended up in a boarding school, she could not give up her dream and constantly took music lessons, took part in many local competitions – and just one of them turned out to be a ticket for Carolina to the world of Ukrainian show business.
The beginning of a successful career
In 1991, the girl took part in the Primrose festival in Chernivtsi, where she met producer Yuri Thales, who is 17 years older than her.
He was the first to see the talent and promising future of the young singer. He immediately offered her to work with him under a contract, and she agreed. The contract with the producer for her daughter was signed by her mother. Yuri Dmitrievich became even more than a producer for the singer. He was for her a teacher, a composer, and a native person who replaced both her father and older brother.
In 1995, Carolina won the Morning Star competition with Thalesa’s composition. There, Yuri Nikolaev advised the young artist to change her name, since the performer Karolina already exists. Then Thales and his ward turned the name “Carolina” backward and divided the resulting word into two parts.
This year was a breakthrough for the star – the girl’s career and fees skyrocketed, the singer earned the interest of journalists and a loyal army of fans.
Already being Ani Lorak, she and Yuri Thales began to live in a civil marriage in 1996 and moved to Kyiv. The history of their romance is quite rich. But more on that below.
In 1996, Ani Lorak became the winner of the New York Big Apple Music 1996 Competition. Further, Ani Lorak completed work on her debut album “I Want to Fly”, recorded in the style of jazz-rock.
In 1999, the singer was awarded the title of the youngest Honored Artist of Ukraine and met the composer Igor Krutoy.
They began to cooperate, and in 2000 the song “Mirrors” was released.
Already being Ani Lorak, she and Yuri Thales began to live in a civil marriage in 1996 and moved to Kyiv. The history of their romance is quite rich. But more on that below.
In 1996, Ani Lorak became the winner of the New York Big Apple Music 1996 Competition. Further, Ani Lorak completed work on her debut album “I Want to Fly”, recorded in the style of jazz-rock.
In 1999, the singer was awarded the title of the youngest Honored Artist of Ukraine and met the composer Igor Krutoy.
They began to cooperate, and in 2000 the song “Mirrors” was released.
Ani Lorak at Eurovision
In 2005, the singer wanted to change and expand her geography. The artist wants to conquer the English-speaking audience. Her 6th solo album “Smіle” went on sale.
It is known that with this composition she was supposed to represent Ukraine at the international Eurovision Song Contest.
However, then, during the national selection, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Tomenko intervened and insisted that the Greenjoly group perform. They performed extremely unsuccessfully, taking 19th place out of 24.
In 2008, Ani Lorak again tried her hand at the national selection, and this time she was lucky. She came out with the song “Shady Lady”, authored by Philip Kirkorov.
“I no longer participated in any selections – they came to me from the TV channel and asked me to go to Eurovision. I agreed, then you know … Philip appeared, offered the song “Shady Lady”. And he called me in Thailand – Murat and I went there on vacation.
The singer then took second place, losing first to Dima Bilan with the song “Belief”.
Then she releases her album “Sun”, which receives platinum status and the songs are actively rotated on Ukrainian and Russian radio and TV channels.
Ani Lorak also took part in the tour “With Ukraine in the Heart” in support of Yulia Tymoshenko in 2009.
Later, Ani Lorak and Timur Rodriguez recorded a joint hit “Passion”.
Further, Ani Lorak was offered to host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and at the end of the year the girl appeared in the Christmas Meetings studio of Alla Pugacheva with the lyrical ballad “Waiting for You”.
In 2013, Ani Lorak’s next album “Light the Heart” will start.
And a year later, the singer, along with Sergey Lazarev, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, and Tamara Gverdtsiteli, became a mentor in the fourth season of the Voice of Ukraine show.
Ani Lorak – actress, model, writer
In addition to her musical career, Ani tries her hand at other activities.
Ani Lorak opened in 2001 in a new role, she tried herself as an actress, playing the role of Oksana in the comedy musical Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.
Further, Ani Lorak releases three books for a children’s audience: “How to become a princess”, “How to become a star” and “How to become a culinary star in 7 days.”
In 2010, Ani Lorak became a model for Oriflame cosmetics, at the same time being the face of the TurTess Travel travel company and the Schwarzkopf brand.
Later he records a duet with Grigory Leps “Go away in English” and the single “Hold my heart.”
Ani Lorak – personal life
Ani Lorak’s personal life is not hidden behind seven locks, like many celebrities.
It is known that from 1996 to 2004, Carolina lived in civil marriage with her producer Yuri Thales.
“There were already five rock bands working in our production center, and interesting events and concerts were constantly taking place. Once, the semi-finals of the Primrose regional competition for young talents took place on our territory, after which I was invited to the jury of the final. I didn’t like sitting. I walked around the hall and listened to the contestants from there. And now they announce: “Caroline Kuek is speaking!” I look – a thin girl in a national costume comes out and begins to sing first the song “Ukrainian”, and then something from the repertoire of Ruslana Lyzhychko. Her voice, timbre and amazing ability to imitate the manners of different singers just blew me away. I come closer and see that the girl is also pretty! I was intrigued”
“Reflecting now on my act, I think that I was guided not only by the producer’s purely professional interest in a talented and promising singer. Music and love are from above. It is not in the power of a person to control the feelings caused by them. Apparently, at that moment, a guardian angel flew over me and whispered to me: “Reach out your hand to this girl.”
Thales says.
“We were side by side twenty-four hours a day and day after day we walked towards each other. I was the first to realize that I could not live without her. And Carolina for a long time perceived me as a mentor. Nevertheless, she grew up, and I began to notice the return fire in her eyes.
When we became close, I flew up to seventh heaven. I have never experienced such deep feelings. I had everything a man needs to be happy: a favorite job, prosperity and an adored woman – an incredible beauty that others could only dream of. We enjoyed each other. However, in public they still pretended that our relationship did not go beyond the “producer-singer “
They broke up because Ani Lorak fell in love with another. She canceled concerts in order to meet her beloved and could fly to another country and not say anything to anyone.
“It was then that I realized that true female love is a violent chemical reaction that cannot be contained by any force, and I was terribly envious of that guy. It became clear to me that Caroline did not really love me. She just lacked male warmth since childhood. And I replaced her father, and brother, and friend. So she was filled with gratitude, mistaking this feeling for love, ”says Thales.
“One “beautiful” day, she told me that she had fallen in love with another and could not live without him. And that’s it – the world around me collapsed. Overnight, I lost everything that I had been going for so long, because Carolina was not just my beloved woman for me, but also the one with whom my work, career, all my present and all plans for the future were connected. The blow was so powerful that I did not want to live, “
In 2009, Ani Lorak officially married Murat Nalchajioglu, co-owner of Turtess Travel.
Many online publications write that Murat and Ani Lorak started dating back in Turkey when they first met in the early 2000s. However, Ani Lorak says the opposite:
“It is believed that everything started with Murat with a holiday romance, but this is not so. What kind of holiday romance is this if we didn’t even kiss – just looked at each other and talked a little over dinner? We both understood that something important was happening to us, but we had very little time.
Be that as it may, a year after they met, Murat moved to live in Kyiv and they began to live together.
In 2011, Lorak gave Nalchadzhioglu a daughter, Sofia, who traditionally received her father’s surname.
In the spring of 2012, Sofia was baptized in Kyiv, Philip Kirkorov became the godfather of Ani Lorak’s daughter.
Even earlier, in an interview, the artist said that the Russian pop singer occupied in her soul the niche that her older brother Sergey occupied in childhood.
However, in 2018, a video was leaked to the Web, which clearly shows how Ani Lorak’s husband is cheating on her with another. For six months there were various rumors about their divorce, but for a long time, neither Murat nor Ani made any comments on this matter.
Now information from a lawyer is circulating on the Web that the divorce process has already been launched.
Many fans suggest that she is now having an affair with Sergey Lazarev because they put up a lot of joint photos and write controversial comments on them.
After this happened, Thales appeared and noted that he was ready to accept Carolina and provide support, because many years after the breakup, he had already forgotten old grievances.
Ani Lorak now
Now Ani Lorak is completely immersed in her show! World-class show DIVA, directed by Oleg Bodnarchuk.
The premiere of the grandiose concert took place on February 16, 2018, in Minsk, on February 25 in St. Petersburg, and on March 3, the show was sold out at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex in Moscow.
Over the past two years, Ani Lorak has released many musical works, including: “Goodbye”, “Soprano”, “New Ex”, “Crazy”, “Dream”. And lots of great clips.
The famous singer performed at the world’s most famous concert venues. Today Diva of show business Ani Lorak performs with enchanting success on the stages of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and other countries.
Now you know how the celebrity started, what difficulties she had to face in order to now have what she has now!
The biography of Ani Lorak once again proves that thanks to talent, pressure, and hard work, considerable success can be achieved!
