Mietek Szcześniak

Mietek Szcześniak
Background Information
Origin	Kalisz, Poland
Birth date	9 July 1964
Death date	N/A
Age	61
Eurovision Song Contest
Country	Poland
Year	1999
Song	Przytul mnie mocno
Semi Position	--
Semi Points	--
Final Position	18th
Final Points	17

Mietek Szcześniak is a polish pop and jazz singer and an university lecturer. He is the best known for his song with Edyta Górniak "Dumka na dwa serca" and for representing Poland on Eurovision in 1999.

About

Born in Kalisz in 1964, he is a devout christian and in his childhood he sang in a church choir.

When he was 6, he became a member of the group "Ikary". He graduated in vocal studies at the Faculty of Jazz and Pop Music at the Academy of Music in Katowice.

Career

In the 1980s, he started singing in the band Funk Factory and 5 years later he performed at the Opole Festival, winning the main award for his performance of "Przyszli o zmroku". That is not his only award though, because in 1990 he won the Grand Prix award at the Sopot Festival (the second biggest music festival in Poland.

In the years 1993–1996, he was boycotted by media due to false information repeated in the industry about his maniacal approach to religious issues.

He represented his home country in 1999 with the song Przytul mnie mocno, finishing in 18th place with 17 points. He was the first male to represent Poland in Eurovision.

He also participated in making the soundtrack for "Ogniem i mieczem" (a polish historical movie) the same year as his Eurovision entry, from where he spawned his biggest hit together with Edyta Górniak, that was mentioned earlier.