Launching her career in the U.S. has been something of a whirlwind for Newton, who moved to Los Angeles from Ukraine just three weeks after she came in fourth in Eurovision, turning down tempting offers for high-profile hosting gigs, prestigious vocal competitions, and even bigger stardom back home for the opportunity to make her voice heard worldwide.

“I want to perform for everybody. I want to help people with my songs, not just people back home, but people all over the world, especially children,” says Newton, who is strongly committed to charitable work, attending events at foster homes and boarding schools and taking part in auctions to benefit disadvantaged youth. “I feel I have a strong message for young people,” she says. “I want to share my experiences and show them that you can achieve your dreams if you’re willing to work hard.”

Newton found her own voice as a child growing up in the town of Burshtyn, in the western part of Ukraine. At age five, she taught herself to sing by imitating famous Ukrainian and Russian vocalists, and begged her mother to invite her friends over so she could perform for them. “I didn’t know if I wanted to be a singer, but I knew I loved performing,” she says. At age nine, Newton began to enter regional vocal competitions to gain experience onstage. Then, when she was 11, a video of Michael Jackson performing his international hit “Earth Song” caught her attention. “I didn’t know who he was or where he was from, but the passion in his performance was very inspiring,” Newton says. While attending a performing arts school as a teenager (where she studied voice, piano, acting, dance, and pantomime), she continued to compete in local and international talent contests, taking first place at nearly all of them, which led to attention from music industry players. Newton released two albums, and, thanks to performing theme songs for many Ukrainian and Russian television shows and films, became known in her country as the “Queen of Soundtracks.”

At that point, America was already beckoning. Impressed by her natural talent, JK Music Group founders Julia Kurbatova and Oleg Shmelev expressed interest in working with Newton and invited her to travel to Los Angeles for a two-week recording session with veteran songwriter Walter Afanasieff (Michael Jackson, Celine Dion) in January 2011, just a month before she was chosen to represent Ukraine at Eurovision. During that visit, Newton also sang for Randy Jackson for the first time. “I felt his energy and knew he was something special,” she says of the Grammy-Award winner, who is producing her album.

After delivering an ethereal, moving performance of the song “Angel” at Eurovision in May, Newton packed her bags for the States. Since then, she has plunged herself into work, spending most of her time in the studio recording, perfecting her English, and gearing up to perform live, which will enable her to showcase her commanding stage presence, gutsy vocals, and emotional depth.

“That’s what it’s about for me,” Newton says. “I am so honest on stage; it’s when I’m most truly myself. The more honest you are, the more people will connect with you and that’s when you can truly have an impact on someone’s life. I strive to make a difference not only as an artist, but also as a person.”

PLAYIN’ WITH THE QUEEN OF HEARTS

If there’s one thing Queen of Hearts Sariah knows how to do, its tell love stories. Not the kind where girl meets boy and they live happily ever after. Sariah sings a more realistic love story; where girls drink body shots off one another and use men for their own sexual gratification. These are the songs about today’s party girls – and they’re igniting dance floors all over the world.

“For so long, only bad girls talked openly about sex,” explains the singer. “I’m the first good girl to tackle the subject because believe it or not, we good girls enjoy it too.”

Sariah grew up in Massachusetts, where she began piano lessons at five and vocal and dance lessons soon after. Whitney Houston was an early inspiration. “I was drawn to how Whitney blended tremendous vocal power with gut wrenching soul. She was a true diva who sang from the heart and delivered in a way that made others feel it in theirs.”

Sariah felt destined to be a diva too. However, she would not follow Houston’s path. She wanted to carve one all her own. That meant finding her own truth to sing.

After college, she moved to New York City and was captivated by the bright lights and velvet ropes. She sings about it in ‘Deep N Luv’, her debut track that broke into Billboard’s top twenty last year.

“Every night I would slip into my cutest outfit and head to the club,” she remembers. “I couldn’t wait to dance all night to my favorite songs and find a beautiful man under the strobe light.

“When I teamed up with producers Mass Ave Productions,” she continues, “they presented me with a record that matched my New York experience. The collaboration and the recording was so much fun because it brought the life I was living to song.”

As ‘Deep N Luv’ climbed the Billboard charts, Sariah realized she wasn’t the only girl who could relate to its message. In fact, it spoke to a whole generation of empowered girls, all unashamed to be untamed. It’s a subject she tackled in her second track ‘All About Sex’.

“I found my ‘All About Sex’ man on the dance floor,” she says. “I loved that everything was crystal clear. We both knew what we were there for and there was no baggage.”

Inevitably, he began inquiring about Sariah’s life outside of their arrangement. “That’s when things got tricky. We began to think there might be something more to us so we made an effort to see each other outside of the bed. Our relationship became confusing and worse, it lost the intrigue. Soon after that, I stopped returning his text messages.”

“‘Just goes to show ya, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” laughs Sariah. “A purely sexual relationship can be satisfying.”

Sariah aims to become the next Queen of Nightlife. “Club music is where my heart is. I love the passion, the freedom to express one’s self, the sexiness, the mystery, and the excitement. I want to be the fire of nightlife and I want my music to be its anthem.”

Sariah’s next dance track, KILL THE LIGHTS, releases this summer. Visit www.sariahmusic.com.

Please vote for my song “When The Lights Go Down” on the Morning Showdown c89.5 Seattle!!!!

VOTE VOTE VOTE the WHOLE WEEK!

Emii will be performing at Krave night club inside Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas strip this Saturday night, March 31st.

Krave Nightclub is the premier gay nightclub in America—voted #1 Gay Nightclub in the country!. This 17,000-square-foot entertainment venue on the Las Vegas Strip is home to the popular Krave nightclub, Krave lounge and two different shows running nightly at the venues’ Harmon Theater. Krave, a straight-friendly gay bar, fosters a diverse and inclusive atmosphere where all people can enjoy world-class nightlife, service and entertainment.

Every week, more than 3,000 people come through the doors, each having the time of their lives and creating memories to last a lifetime.

Check out the KRAVE website here

It October 2006, LALA completed her Masters degree in Education. Afterward she left her music elementary teaching position and other gigs so she could move to New York to pursue her music career. Since then she has made several connections working with major production teams and has started showcasing her own music. She’s appeared on radio, in music videos, collaborated with other artists, musicians, DJs, choreographers, and dancers. In February 2007, LALA came in second place at The Verizon Sing contest in the Chinese New Year Chinatown Parade in New York. She also performed for the parade in February 2010. She has revisited her involvement (as a solo artist) with Claviscape, LLC in Connecticut where her single, “Shooting Stars” was released.

In August 2007, LALA opened up for award winning singer/songwriter, Michael McDonald, Davy Jones from The Monkees, Michael Bolton, Dru Hill, and Aretha Franklin. She also won 1st place in an industry showcase competition put on by SRC Universal Records.

LALA kicked off the 2009 New Year by performing the National Anthem at NJ Nets first game of the year at IZOD Centre which was broadcasted on Fox Sports, Yeshd, and Bloomberg Radio. Her music is played on various Satellite radio, college radio, online radio, mixtapes, and clubs throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe. Her R&B single, “This Is Why I Fell” received responses from over 400 DJs and radio hosts via Digiwaxx Media LLC. In March and April of 2009, LALA’s songs were in rotation on iTunes Radio Jamz Hits 1FM.

Vibrant with the diverse scenes and audiences in New York, LALA performed at various Gay clubs including LGBT venues, events, and Pride festivals throughout the States. She then turned more toward Dance music and began working with various dance producers and DJs. Her single “I Will Never Forget You” landed on BPM and OUTQ Sirius XM radio, Party 105.3 FM and other stations within the U.S. and Europe. During this buzz, LALA and ManiaCalm productions were offered various label deals. In December 2009, the single signed with Red Stick/Strictly Rhythm Records. This impressive debut, finished at number 7 on BPM’s top 50 of 2010 (Sirius Radio), number 8 on AOL’s top 10 Dance songs of 2010 and peaked at #5 on Hot Dance Radio Airplay for Billboard Magazine in July 2010.

In January, 2011, LALA continued to work with ManiaCalm and co-wrote a second single, “I Miss You”. Recently, Next Plateau Entertainment (home of Salt N’ Pepper and Nina Sky) signed the single and plans to promote the record further. The single is playing on BPM XM Sirius and various other Dance radio stations. Reviews and article features on LALA have been in various LGBT newspapers, magazines, and online radio stations throughout the States, such as Out at Night Magazine, Florida Agenda Newspaper, Out and About live radio, to name a few.

LALA is currently signed to Big Management and is working on her next single release. She is driven to become a success story. When asked by an interviewer what fuels her to be so unstoppable and driven, LALA answered, “God has given me a talent, and I am going to take it to the fullest!”

Keep an eye out for her upcoming shows in the NYC area.