Mikhail Alekseevich Smirnov, better known by his stage name Misha Smirnov, is a Russianchild singer, songwriter and actor. He represented Russia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Mechta", where he placed sixth. Smirnov was a finalist of the second season of The Voice Kids in Russia, an actor in the musical Ivanhoe, and a multiple grand prize winner of many Russian and international vocal competitions.
Early life and career
Smirnov was born on 30 April 2003 in Moscow in a family of mathematicians. Both his parents graduated from the Math and Mechanics faculty of the Moscow State University. When he was three, Smirnov suddenly began to stutter and his parents sent him to singing lessons as a therapy. There his first vocal coach Julia Narnitskaya noticed that he has a good ear for music and great vocals. His mother Olga graduated from music school and played the piano, and she cultivated Smirnov's love of music as well. Gradually gaining skills, Smirnov began performing at various competitions and winning prizes. At the age of 8 he went to another studio, and Lyudmila Simon became his new vocal teacher. Smirnov came up to the professional level and achieved the most significant victories with her. Smirnov has a huge number of Gran Prix on various Russian and international vocal competitions. He says that his major achievement is the final of the TV show The Voice Kids.
In the Russian national final, Smirnov had to battle a series of strong female vocalists, many of whom rode the EDM trend with upbeat, danceable songs. However, he won and represented Russia at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015, finishing 6th overall with 80 points. Following his Junior Eurovision appearance, Smirnov hosted Goryachaya Desyatochka on Karusel.
Later career
After Junior Eurovision, he produced some songs on his own. His first single after JESC was "Parachute”, which by April 22, 2017 reached the 1st place in the Children's Radio charts. On May 13, the third single “Night Outcast” was presented, in which Smirnov used his father’s poems written in 1993. After two weeks on May 29, the release of their first duet with Arina Danilova, which recorded "Not Enough". On September 2017, he wrote the song “I Would Like To Know Everything” for Veronika Ustimova, with which she took second place in the Russian national selection for Junior Eurovision 2017. On May 19, 2018, his debut album15, consisting of previously released singles, was released. The album was named for the number of tracks included in it, and also for having taken 15 months to write the songs. In addition to solo songs, several tracks on it were recorded with colleagues on the season 4 of The Voice Kids, such as Arina Danilova, Alisa Kozhikina, and Kirill Skripnik. The original album was supposed to be called "Dreamerboy". “Dreamerboy is me, a boy who dreams of big concerts and a new elegant music,” Smirnov explained about the name. However, due to the peculiarities of placement on digital distribution sites, the name was changed. On September 30, 2018, his second EP, Silence, was released.
Acting
In 2012, Smirnov performed at the Moscow International House of Music in the role of Mowgli in the musical Мы Одной Крови. On December 2015, the new musical Баллада о маленьком сердце premiered with Smirnov in the role of Alyoshka. In 2016-17, he played Nikita in The Circus of Miracles at the Ivanhoe Theater presented the New Year show Волшебный подарок Деда Мороза. On September 30, 2017, he took on Цирке чудес, the premiere of another show, in which he played the main role, the Little Prince. He appeared with Irina Ukhanova and Evgeny Egorov.
In addition to singing, Smirnov acts professionally in musical theater. He also writes poetry, plays football, and composes music during his free time.
