Azis

Azis is a Bulgarian musician, TV host, actor, and LGTB spokesperson of Romani origin, born on 7 March 1978 in the female prison of Sliven, Bulgaria. He started his career as a child singing Romani music with his parent's band, but initially gain eminence in his late teens as a solo artist performing mostly in the pop-folk genre. In 1999, his debut solo album "Pain" was released. With the title song, translated into the Gypsy language, Azis won his first major award - in August he was appointed singer of the year at the Roma festival in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Using his image as a rising Roma star, Azis publicly announced his homosexuality and provoked polemic reactions within the Bulgarian and the Roma communities. In response, in 2000, Azis filmed a music video for the song "Erotik" from his following album "Men also cries" in absolute visual transformation. The singer appeared on stage and in photos with makeup, bleached blond hair, and embed locks. His look and the ballad "Tears" caused him broad popularity, and quickly won him thousands of fans among the younger party-going scene of Bulgaria and the Balkans. By that time, many public figures, models, and colleague musicians supported his unconventional image and his music by taking part in his music videos and singles, which were growing even more vivid, provocative, and successful. In 2001, Radio "Populare" in Milan, Italy, announced him as the "Balkan Madonna" and invited him to the radio's birthday concert in Milan, where he sang in front of ten-thousand people. However, despite his rising popularity, by that time, surpassing Bulgarian borders, many people did not accept the current star of the music scene. Each of his new singles continued provoking intense debates on the television, radio, and the press, accusing him of corrupting the Bulgarian musical and artistic heritage but more so - young people. In October 2004, as a promotion of his single "How does it hurt", Azis appeared on a billboard in the center of Sofia. After intense protests by many public figures, the billboard was taken down by the requirement of then Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Boyko Borisov. In 2006 Azis married Nikolay Parvanov "Niki Kitaetsa" but still, their marriage is not legally recognized under Bulgarian law. In the same year, he published his autobiography "Me, Azis. ". The book instantly became a bestseller and opened the doors to TV for him. In 2007 he confirmed a deal with ProBG TV Channel in Bulgaria to become the highest-paid TV host in the history of Bulgarian television with his program "The evening show of Azis." Up to 2022, he has released 11 studio albums and 91 music videos.