Markus Riva

Miķelis Ļaksa (born 2 October 1986), known professionally as Markus Riva, is a Latvian singer and producer. He has released several albums, including the debut album Ticu (2009).

Markus Riva
Riva in July 2017
Background information
Birth nameMiķelis Ļaksa
Born (1986-10-02) 2 October 1986
Talsi, Latvia
GenresPop
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals
Years active2009–present
Websitewww.markus-riva.com

Riva worked at Capital FM as a DJ, and has composed music for various television shows. He has competed repeatedly in Latvia's national selection for the entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest.[1] Since 2017, Riva hosts the TV3 show X Faktors, Latvia's version of The X Factor.[2]

Artistry

Among creative inspirations, he mentions artists such as Beyoncé, Robyn and Woody Allen.

In 2015, Markus released his first single in Russian titled "Taty", the video for the single was made by director Alan Badoev. The English version of the single is called "Take Me Down" and was one of the finalist songs for the Latvian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Supernova

Riva is well known for his attempts to represent Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest. He has entered the national selection for the past seven years in a row, from 2014 to 2020.

In 2014, Riva entered the Latvian selection with his song "Lights On", which came eleventh in the final of the selection.

In 2015, he returned with his song "Take Me Down", which went on to place second in the final, behind the eventual winner Aminata's song "Love Injected". This has been Riva's most successful entry so far, along with 2019.

In 2016, Riva entered with his song "I Can", and came third in the final, however since he was in neither the top two in the jury voting or the televote, he did not reach the superfinal.

In 2017, Riva sent his song "Dynamite", however he failed to qualify from Heat 2, finishing in sixth place.

In 2018, Riva entered again with the song "This Time". Originally, he was said to have failed to qualify from his semi-final, however due to technical errors in the voting he would have qualified over Ritvars' song "Who's Counting", so both songs were sent through to the final. In the final, Riva placed fifth out of eight entries.

In 2019, he participated in Supernova with his song "You Make Me So Crazy".[3] Having qualified from the semi-final, he placed second out of 8 entries, behind the eventual winner Carousel's song "That Night". Along with his 2015 attempt, this is Riva's most successful entry so far.

In 2020, he returned for a seventh consecutive year with the song "Impossible", co written by Aminata. Although his song was shortlisted and he was invited to audition in front of the selection panel, he was not selected to participate in the finals.[4]

Discography

Studio album
  • Ticu (2009)
  • Songs from NYC (2010)
  • How It Feels (2013)
  • MR (2015)
  • I CAN (2018)
  • Laika Upe (2019)

Singles
  • "Fire" (2013)
  • "We Dance for Reason" (2014)
  • "Lights On" (2014)
  • "Forever" (2014)
  • "Take Me Down" (2014)
  • "Taty" (2015)
  • "Красива Сильно" (feat. Arthur Dennys) (2015)
  • "Take Me Away" (2015)
  • "I Can" (2016)
  • "Love Me Harder" (2016)
  • "Laika Upe" (2016)
  • "Ты Влюблена" (2016)
  • "Saucu Tevi Vēl" (2016)
  • "Река любви" (2016)
  • "Dynamite" (2017)
  • "Девушка с Глянца" (2017)
  • "Ko sirds mana jūt" (2017)
  • "Южные ветра" (feat. Arthur Dennys) (2017)
  • "Не зови" (2017)
  • "Kā būs, tā būs" (2017)
  • "This Time" (2017)
  • "Ziemassvētkos" (2017)
  • "Куда ночь заведёт" (2018)
  • "Не відпускай" (with Мята) (2018)
  • "Nevaru Tā" (2018)
  • "Свадхистхана" (2018)
  • "Last Dance" (with Aminata) (2018)
  • "По венам алкоголь" / "You Make Me So Crazy" (2018)
  • "Es Tev Šodien Teikšu Jā" (with Intars Busulis and Reinis Sējāns) (2019)
  • "Kamēr Vien Mēs Esam" (with Dināra Rudāne) (2019)
  • "Ты пьёшь мою кровь" (2019)
  • "Не владею собой" (2019)
  • "Пьяная голая" (2019)
  • "Impossible" (2020)

References
  1. "Markus Riva <<Supernova 2018>> dalībnieks" (in Latvian). LSM. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  2. "Latvijas 'X Faktoru' vadīs Markus Riva" (in Latvian). DELFI. 8 May 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  3. Christou, Costa (9 January 2019). "Latvia: Supernova 2019 entries get revamped ahead of selection". ESCXtra. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  4. "Latvia chooses Samanta Tīna for Eurovision 2020". 8 February 2020.
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