Diana Gurtskaia (Диа́на Гурцка́я, July 2, 1978, Sukhum, Georgian SSR, USSR), a popular Georgian blind singer, who represented Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song “Peace Will Come” and took 11th place in the finals. The singer was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Every year, he organizes a charity event – “Белая трость” “White Cane”, where visually impaired children from different countries perform with famous stars, including himself, Diana Gurtskaya.
He was born on July 2, 1978 in Sukhum, in the family of Megrels. His father, Guda Adamurovich Gurtskaya, is a miner, his mother, Zaira Amiranovna Gurtskaya, a teacher, died in 2001. Blind from birth, Diana was the fourth child in a large family, she has two brothers: Jambul, Robert (Diana’s producer) and sister, Alison. He graduated from Tbilisi School for Blind and Visually Impaired Children. While studying at school, he was able to convince the teachers of the music school that he could learn to play the piano.
At the age of 10, he performed for the first time at the Tbilisi Philharmonic, performing a duet with the Georgian singer Irma Sokhadze.
In 1995, he became one of the winners of the “Yalta-Moscow Transit” music competition. In 1999, he graduated from the variety department of the Gnesin Music School in Moscow. In 2003, he graduated from the Institute of Contemporary Art and entered the M. Master’s degree of the Faculty of Arts of Moscow State University named after Lomonosov.
In March 2000, “АРС” studio released the singer’s debut album “You are here” (“Ты здесь”), which included the songs of Igor Nikolaev and Sergey Chelobanov. In 2002, the second album of the singer, “You know, mama” (“Ты знешь, мама”) was released. On March 1, 2008, an election round was held in Tbilisi’s Sports Palace, as a result of which in May, Diana would represent Georgia in the “Eurovision 2008” international contest in Belgrade.
In 2009, on the International Paralympic Day held in Moscow for the first time, the organizing committee of the Sochi-2014 Olympic Games gave Diana Gurtskaya the status of ambassador of “Sochi 2014” as a person promoting the ideas of the Olympic and Paralympic movement in Russia and the world.
He is the chairman of the board of trustees of the “Heart Calling” Foundation for blind and visually impaired children.
