Ruth Lorenzo Pascual (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈrutˈloɾenθo]; born 10 November 1982)[2] is a Spanish singer, composer and television personality, best known in the UK for coming fifth in the fifth series of the British TV talent show The X Factor in 2008. She represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Dancing In The Rain", scoring 74 points in the final and finishing in 10th place; the song peaked at #5 in the Spanish Singles Chart
And also charted in the UK at #101.
Artists such as Auryn and Dannii Minogue[3] have included compositions of hers in their albums.
Her debut single "Burn" entered the Spanish Singles Charts and reached number 16 when she released the single on 27 June 2011. She released her first UK single "The Night" on 15 June 2013, featuring a club remix by Almighty.[citation needed]
Her debut album 'Planeta Azul' was released on 27 October 2014, with number six single on the Spanish Single Charts ‘Gigantes’. In November 2017 ‘Good Girls Don't Lie’ was released as the first single of her second album 'Loveaholic' (9 March 2018). The song made it to number one iTunes Spain on the first 24 hours.[4]Loveaholic includes a collaboration of guitarist Jeff Beck.
She achieved a Guinness World Records in 2016 for performing in eight different Spanish cities in 12 hours, in a breast cancer awareness charity event.[5]
Early life
Ruth Lorenzo was born on 10 November 1982 in the Region of Murcia, in south-eastern Spain. At a very young age she became a fan of the musical Annie and although she had no idea of what the words meant she would sing along to the songs in English. When she was six years old she discovered music by Catalan opera singer Montserrat Caballé, and after her mother bought her an album by Caballé, Lorenzo began to sing opera, imitating Caballé's vocals until she was pitch perfect. At the age of 12, Lorenzo's family moved to Utah in the United States and this was the first time she had the opportunity to be involved in music at school.[6] After much encouragement from her teachers, Lorenzo was entered into competitions and played lead roles in musical productions such as The Phantom of the Opera and My Fair Lady. When Lorenzo turned 16 the family returned to Spain and although having had singing lessons by this time, she had to cancel these lessons due to family financial difficulty and as a result Lorenzo gave up on her dream of becoming a recording artist. When Lorenzo was 19 she joined a rock band, which was a challenge for her as she had only sung opera music. She also made a big decision to quit her job in her family's business in order to pursue her dreams once again, but after three years of touring around Spain the group decided to split up. Ruth landed a contract at Polaris World where as well as performing, she worked as a PR consultant.
In 2008, Lorenzo auditioned for the fifth series of The X Factor in front of judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh. She sang "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". She impressed the judges and made it through to the next stage of the show, "bootcamp". Lorenzo passed both stages of bootcamp and was sent to St. Tropez with the other successful contestants from the over-25s category. There she auditioned in front of Dannii Minogue who was her X Factor mentor. After an emotional performance of "True Colors", sung in Spanish, Minogue decided to pick Lorenzo for her final three who would proceed to the live shows. On the first live show she sang "Take My Breath Away" in English and Spanish. She had mainly good comments, especially from Cowell, who told her she should sing in Spanish more often. However, the next week Lorenzo sang "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" in English only, and ended up in the bottom two. She performed "Purple Rain" in the singoff, and it saved her into the next week. In Week 5, Lorenzo was in the bottom two again against one of the crowd favourites Laura White. This time she sang "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and was saved by Cowell, Minogue and Walsh. Her performance was overshadowed by the uproar over White's departure. Voting statistics revealed that White received more votes than Lorenzo meaning if Walsh sent the result to deadlock, White would’ve been saved. During Take That week, Lorenzo sang "Love Ain't Here Anymore". She received high praise for her performance, with Cowell saying it was sensational. By the quarter-final, Lorenzo was Minogue's last remaining act and she was eliminated after receiving the fewest public votes. Lorenzo bowed out with another performance of "Always". Former friend Alexandra Burke went on to win the show.
Lorenzo performed at gigs across the UK and Ireland in December 2008 and January 2009.[7] In February and March 2009, she joined the X Factor Live tour with fellow finalists. She also was nominated for three awards at the Digital Spy Reality TV Awards. Ruth officially confirmed her record deal with Virgin Records on May 6 with an interview with Xpose.
In 2010, Lorenzo was approached by Spanish TV Channel Cuatro and asked to write a song for their new fictional drama Valientes. She accepted and composed two songs for the show, one for the opening ("Quiero Ser Valiente") and one for the end credits ("Te Puedo Ver"). Ruth performed "Quiero Ser Valiente" on Friday 22 January on Spanish talent show Fama a bailar (which was also aired on Cuatro).[8] In July 2010 it was revealed that Lorenzo had written songs for Dannii Minogue's comeback album revealed on Dannii's ITV2 show Style Queen.[citation needed] Lorenzo confirmed in a blog posting that she parted away from Virgin Records/EMI due to "creative differences"[1] and that she would continue working on her album as an independent artist.
She signed up to website indiegogo.com where fans helped to fund her debut single. The funding was for airplay, the video shooting, marketing and PR services.[9] The CD version included "Burn", an acoustic version of the song and "Eternity".[10] The Raspberry Pattern became the name of her band.[11] Lorenzo was booked for more dates around the United Kingdom for the summer and autumn of 2011. Ruth released a free track download titled "The Night" for her Facebook fans in August 2012 which was officially released in June 2013 with a videoclip. On 11 November a lyric video for her single "Love is Dead" was uploaded to Ruth's YouTube channel. The single was released under the independent H&I Music on digital platforms, including the song "Pain" as a B-side. At the end of 2013 Ruth signed with a new record company, Spanish company Roster Music and unveiled her new website.
During 2013 she took part on the Celebrities On Ice tour in the UK.[12]
Her website announced the upcoming release of her first studio album.[13] She left to Los Angeles, California to record various tracks for her album, to be titled Planeta Azul.[14]
On 20 January TVE selected Ruth Lorenzo as one of the five candidates to represent Spain at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest.[15] Months earlier the eurovision-spain.com website made a survey known as "La Elección Interna" among Eurovision fans and international juries from thirteen different countries to check who could be the ideal Spanish candidate to represent Spain. Ruth came second in the list among one hundred different Spanish candidates[16] In February the song "Dancing In The Rain" was released[17] as one of the Spanish pre-selection entries for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The song was released on 18 February and it became number one on iTunes Spain. On 22 February she won the Spanish national final. Therefore, she represented Spain in the contest with the song "Dancing In The Rain" on 10 May 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The song finished 10th overall.
Her debut album Planeta Azul was released on 27 October 2014. The album contains thirteen new songs, and also "Dancing In The Rain". The release of the album was preceded by the release of its lead single, "Gigantes", on 7 October 2014,[18] which debuted at number six on the Spanish Singles Chart. The official video for the single was released on 22 October.
2015–2016: After Eurovision, Tu Cara Me Suena
In 2015, Lorenzo served as a judge in the Spanish talent showLevántate (Spanish version of Stand Up for Your Country), aired on Telecinco from 10 February 2015 to 17 March 2015.[19] She also served as a member of the Spanish jury in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.
On 16 October 2015, a special re-issue of her debut album Planeta Azul was released, which includes new tracks and songs she had recorded previously in English language. One of the new tracks, titled "99", was released as a single on 28 August 2015.[20][21]
On 30 July 2015, Lorenzo was announced to join the cast of the fourth season of television show Tu cara me suena, in which celebrity contestants impersonate a different iconic music artist on stage each week.[22] The season premiered on 18 September 2015 on Antena 3.[23] In the season finale that took place on 29 January 2016, she was declared winner with 47% of the televote.[24]
In September 2016, she announced that on 19 October she would achieve a Guinness World Record with the goal of getting funds breast cancer investigation. The record consisted in holding eight concerts in eight different Spanish towns in less than twelve hours (Un Récord Por Ellas - a Guinness Record Award for Women).
At the end of 2016, she started the Voces Tour touring Spain, visiting Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and Murcia.
2017: Entrepreneurial projects
On 13 October 2017 and after a little break from music industry, Lorenzo released "Good Girls Don't Lie", the first single of her upcoming second studio album Loveaholic.[26]
On 29 September 2017, Lorenzo announced "Good Girls Don't Lie", the first song of Loveaholic. The song was released on the 13 October 2017, reaching number one in sales on the main digital platforms such as iTunes, Google Play Music and Amazon. The song became trending topic on Twitter during that first weekend, and it also aired on main Spanish radio stations. Soon after that she announced The Loveaholic Tour for 2018.
Record label: Raspberry Records
After declining an offer from Virgin EMI Records, being part of Roster Music from 2013 and releasing a charity single with Universal Music, in 2017 Lorenzo decided to create her own record label, Raspberry Records, and release her music under this label.
White Lion
Lorenzo announced the creation of her own clothing line, White Lion. The name was chosen in homage to the name given to her fans (lions).
2018–2019: Loveaholic, La Llamada, new single, and television projects
Her second album, Loveaholic, was released on 9 March 2018; the album includes a collaboration with Jeff Beck. It peaked at number 9 on the Spanish Albums Chart.
In December 2018, Lorenzo debuted in musical theatre with the role of God in La Llamada, at the Teatro Lara in Madrid.[28]
On March 29, 2019, she performed at the sold out Festival Mil·leni at the Teatro Coliseum in Barcelona.
In May 2019, Lorenzo starred in an episode of the La Sexta travel show Viajeras con B.
In June 2019, she released the single "Underworld". Its official music video was directed by Pablo H. Smith and produced by The Panda Bear Show.
During the summer of 2019, she toured Spain with La Llamada: Musical.
In November 2019, she starred in the multimedia event show El gran secuestro for Playz.[29][30]
2020–present: Crisálida, Veo cómo cantas and Benidorm Fest
In June 2020, Lorenzo released "Miedo", the first single from her third studio album, to be titled Crisálida.[31] A second single that precedes the album, the same-titled "Crisálida", will be released on January 29, 2021.[32]
In January 2023, she was confirmed as the main host of the RTVE singing competition series Cover Night, along with Ana Guerra and Abraham Mateo.[36][37]
On 19 October, International Breast Cancer Awareness Day, she performed in 12 hours in eight different Spanish cities, achieving the Guinness World Records for this special cause. The name of the event was "Un récord por ellas".[39]
Awards and nominations
Year
Category
Award
Results
2008
Award nomination for Sexiest Female on a Reality TV Show
