Sabina Babayeva

Sabina Babayeva (Səbinə Babayeva; born 2 December 1979, Baku) is an Azerbaijani singer.

She is known in Azerbaijan as the singer of Roya kimi, theme song of the 2003 Azerbaijani television series Bayaz hayat.

A veteran contestant in the Azerbaijani national selection, she has applied to represent Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest every year since the country's debut in 2008.

In 2011, she came third in her heat.

She represented Azerbaijan in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, held in Baku, Azerbaijan on 26 May 2012, with the song "When the Music Dies", as the 13th act, and finished 4th overall.

A graduate of the Asaf Zeynally Music School in Baku with a degree in vocal arts, she has participated in a number of song competitions both in her country and abroad.

Prior to being selected, Sabina Babayeva recorded the song Sikhvarulis tamashi in duo with Anri Jokhadze who represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

As part of her promotional tour, Sabina performed in London, Amsterdam and Budapest.

At Eurovision, she came in fourth, the highest rank for a host country contestant since the introduction of the semi-finals.

She also received the Marcel Bezençon Press Award for her performance of "When the Music Dies".

In 2012, Babayeva was admitted to a post-secondary programme at the Baku Academy of Music.

On 30 July 2012, it was announced that Babayeva had got engaged to Javidan Sharifov, six years her junior, a program director on Ictimai TV.

The couple was reported to have been dating for a year.

Sabina Babayeva refuted the claim but despite her initial reaction, the wedding did take place on 26 September.

In 2014, Babayeva was the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani voting for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

She considers Engelbert Humperdinck as one of her favourite singers and has expressed an interest in singing a duet with him.

In early 2016, Babayeva gave birth to a son.