One song was all it took for a young and talented Lithuanian musician Amberlife to become the centre of the music fans' attention.

"Debut of the year, definitely" -- Lithuanian music professionals and critics declared immediately after hearing Amberlife's first song "My Way" being played on the radio.

Comparisons with "a-ha", "Coldplay", HIM and other international music stars followed, although the singer denied such opinions.

"It's very important that people understand my wish to find my own creative path. All those comparisons are flattering in a way. And of course I admit I play the kind of music which is often categorized as "Scandinavian soft rock". But I hope to make my music as original as possible because I believe that's the only way to achieve my goal -- international popularity", Amberlife claims.

A successful collaboration with well-known Lithuanian producer company "Cactus" made Amberlife believe that his dream of international career are quite realistic.

It took only several months for this singer to find popularity in Latvia -- Amberlife's song became musical theme of a popular TV reality show.

An inquiry from Scandinavian music industry people followed soon. After hearing "My Way", several Swedish music producers were amazed by the singer's talent and contacted his management team with a proposal of international music project.

While Amberlife was preparing for his debut performances with a live band, his producers Gintaras and Mindaugas Bendzius were discussing details of an international collaboration.

30th of July, 2003 was a happy day for the rapidly growing army of Amberlife's fans -- his debut album "My Way" was released. The album was promoted by radio hits "Whisper" and "Fly", which was also accompanied by animated music video.

In September, the biggest live performances of Amberlife up to date took place in three Lithuanian cities. The singer shared stage with well-known Western performers "Chumbawamba", Bosson and "Fragma", playing to 10 000 people crowds each evening. Amberlife also supported legendary Scottish rock band "Nazareth" on its Lithuanian tour shortly afterwards.

Autumn brought Amberlife yet another pleasant surprise -- his first fan club was established in Vilnius. The singer's forthcoming collaboration with Swedish music producers was often hinted in the local press - it was already known that international company "Tele-2" decided to support it financially. But only in December all the details of this project were disclosed.

A special press conference was held during which Amberlife announced his plans to compete for the right to represent Lithuania in Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

A Eurovision song was also presented -- a magnificent track "In Your Eyes", written by three famous Swedish producers Marcos Ubeda, Bobby Ljungren and William Butt. On 7th of December the song debuted on all the leading Lithuanian radio stations.

The people behind the song have a lot of Eurovision experience. Marcos Ubeda is the author of "Never Let It Go", a song which, performed by group "Afrodite", represented Sweden in Eurovision Song Contest 2001.

Bobby Ljungren is one of the most popular composers in Sweden. Having penned and produced several songs for German pop star Blumchen, he also wrote a big European hit "I'm Not A Sinner Nor A Saint" for extravagant Swedish group "Alcazar".

William Butt has also written a number of hits for Swedish artists. He's the man who discovered one of the biggest Swedish stars Lisa Nilsson. William also wrote one of the most popular American Christmas songs "It's Christmas In New York" which even Frank Sinatra was fond of.

The track "In Your Eyes" was recorded in an expensive "Trigger Studio" (Stockholm). Jonas Isakson, who earned his name playing guitar with world-famous Swedish duo "Roxette", guests on this song.

After hearing the track, Swedish record label "Stockholm Records" (a division of "Universal Music") became interested in Amberlife and future projects are currently being discussed. This put Amberlife among other artists whose records are released by the label -- such as "Apocalyptica", "Rammstein", Stakka Bo, "The Cardigans", Alizee, "Safri Duo", "A-Teens" and others.

2004

A strictly limited edition CD "In Your Eyes" (3000 copies) was released in January, featuring all the songs from Amberlife's debut album plus 4 versions of "In Your Eyes".

A video for "In Your Eyes" was filmed in Stockholm together with three-part advertisement clip for "Tele 2", which also features Amberlife.

"In Your Eyes" video was directed by Tomas Brandt of a well-known Scandinavian company "TB Production". The video is currently shown not only in Lithuania but in foreign territories as well.
 
During his stay in Stockholm Amberlife was photographed by famous photographer Bingo Rimmer, who has made his name photographing Steven Tyler ("Aerosmith"), Emilia, "Backstreet Boys" and many others.

31st of January was a feast for Amberlife -- he won "Debut of the year" awards in the ceremony hosted by Lithuania's most popular radio station "Radiocentras". The same triumph was repeated a month later in the prestigious "Bravo" awards ceremony (a Lithuanian equivalent of "Grammy").

Amberlife also successfully entered the Lithuanian Eurovision final -- during the semi-finals more than 10 thousand people voted for him, making the singer an absolute leader.

The singer prepared an impressive show for the national Eurovision final, held on 14th of February. But, although the TV viewers’ votes put him on top of the competition, the jury had other ideas, giving Amberlife only 2 points of 12.

This made Amberlife drop from No1 to No4 in over-all ratings. The story caused big scandal in Lithuania and there is a lot of talk about the jury's corruption.

Amberlife's management team addressed European Broadcaster's Union about the matter. The answer followed quickly -- due to this scandal the rules of national finals organization will be changed next year, making it more difficult for certain interest groups to influence the results.

Despite huge disappointment on the singer's behalf, the scandal brought some positive effects. "In Your Eyes" suddenly gained popularity in Russia - it is currently play-listed by 150 radio stations transmitting in 50 cities.

A new stage of Amberlife's career was marked by two fresh songs which made their debut on the radio this summer. The tracks "Summerland" and "Always" witness a change in singer's musical direction. It seems that soft Scandinavian rock influences are giving way to Amberlife's fascination with British pop and rock music style.

While recording songs for his new album, Amberlife also toured Lithuania and neighbour countries. In July he performed two songs in Karlshamn International Song Festival (Sweden).

Latvian musicians also took notice of Lithuania's talented singer. Latvia's sexiest female singing sensation Ladybird expressed interest in recording a duet with Amberlife. The result of this collaboration -- a song called "My Lover’s Gone". Written by Amberlife, the track has already got an accompanying video.

The singer's increasing popularity in Latvia brought an idea to participate in the selection for Eurovision Song Contest 2005 -- not in his own country, but in Latvia.

Last month of autumn marks two important occasions in Amberlife's career. His much-awaited second album is released in November. A nice way to celebrate this and gain some new experience will be an appearance in the international festival held in Czech Republic.