Ruth Koleva
Ruth Koleva is an award winning Bulgarian singer-songwriter.
Early life
Ruth Koleva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. Her father is Olympic weightlifter Nedelcho Kolev, and her mother is a painter. She has a twin brother. Koleva spent most of her childhood in Bahrain, India and Thailand, where her father was a coach. At age 5 she began to be interested in music, and her first performance on stage was when she was 9, during a reception in Thailand. At the age of 15, she signed a contract with manager Joe Fletcher and went to the United States where she recorded his first songs with composer Martin Braille. At the same time, she also received a proposal to become a part of the underground hip-hop label ILLmate along with Wosh MC, Logo5 and FARS. She graduated in Sofia at the age of 17, and then studied Media and Communications in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She performed on stage with Bobby McFerrin, and in 2007 she won a scholarship from the Stevie Wonder Foundation and studied at the Hollywood Pop Academy in Los Angeles, where she started writing her first songs.
Music career
Ruth Koleva first rose to fame as a contestant on the Bulgarian Music Idol series. Where she was eliminated before the finals. That same year she released her debut song "Blizo" which earned her 8 BG Radio awards nominations. She later opened for Methodman & Redman concert in Sofia, and performed before Fun Lovin' Criminals on Spirit of Burgas Festival. One of her songs "Pesenta" went on to become the most successful advertisement of Mtel earning 5 awards on the FARA advertisement awards. Her song under the pseudonym Nyree, entered World Chart Express on MTV in October 2009. In 2010 she was awarded Women on the Year by Grazia Magazine, shortly after her successful Eastern-Europe tour. In 2010 Ruth becomes the spokesperson and ambassador of Avon's campaign against breast cancer. In 2012 Ruth is awarded Best Female singer by BG Radio awards, becoming the youngest Recipient of the award in this history. Her album "R U T H" was recorded in the Netherlands with musicians MC Stamina, Sharlene Hector, Richard Spaven, Vincent Helbers in Flowriders Studio. The album received recognition and praise from many jazz/soul critics around the world. Including Mark Ronson naming it "Amazing". "R U T H" won Best Album award at BG Radio awards in 2014. In 2014 and 2015 Ruth toured Europe and Asia, while winning Best Jazz Vocalist by JAJ Radio Awards in Japan. In 2015 she released a remix album "Rhythm Slave" including remixes by Opolopo, Mark De Clive Lowe, Eric Lau, Positive Flow, Kaidi Tatham, DJ Spinna and more. In February 2015 Ruth performed her first sol-out concert with Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, while recording her album "Confidence.Truth" in Los Angeles with musicians Ron Avant (Anderson Paak), Jameel Bruner (formerly of the Internet) on synths, drummer Gene Coye (Flying Lotus) and bassist Cooper Appelt In 2015 Koleva was named "most influential musician on the internet" by egoist.bg, she has been included in Forbes Magazine Top 50 celebrities 3 times in a row.
Albums
2012 Future Sweet EP 2013 R U T H 2015 Rhythm Slave (Remix Album) 2017 Wake Up EP 2017 Confidence. Truth
Awards
Grazia Woman of the Year, BG Radio - Best Singer, Best Collaboration (With Beloslava), Best Album JAJ Awards - Best Jazz Vocalist.