Who is James Newman, the UK’s Eurovision 2021 entry?

While the coronavirus pandemic left Eurovision fans without a competition last year, the stage is all set for the final to take place tonight.

Many will be tuning in to catch the all-singing all-dancing competition – with James Newman selected to represent the UK yet again.

He would have been the UK’s entry at the Rotterdam final in 2020, but will now represent us at the 2021 contest instead – with the upbeat dance track Embers.

The UK’s act for this year has revealed the ‘mind-blowing’ performance that never was, in 2020 – but who is James Newman, and what else has he done?

Who is James Newman?

James Newman is a 35-year-old award-winning singer and songwriter based in London.

James Newman was chosen to be the UK’s act for Eurovision 2020, and is taking another shot at European glory this year too.

In 2020, he was to perform the angsty, atmospheric ballad ‘My Last Breath’, but chose this year to sing a new, ‘positive and upbeat’ track. Embers – which debuted on Radio 2 on March 11 – was apparently written entirely online as recording studios remain closed.

The star, who is the brother of Love Me Again singer John Newman, told Newsbeat: ‘I feel like everyone wants a party and to have some fun so when I was writing, that’s what I had in my head.’

Speaking about the plans for his 2020 performance, the 35-year-old told Metro.co.uk: ‘It was going to be me in this tundra kind of thing on top of a big cube that was going to look like it had water projected into it.

‘And I was going to be stood on top of it with a 3D girl projected into it and we’re going to interact from the outside. I was going to come down from the cube and all the water was going to flood out so it looked onto the screens and it was going to be this crazy thing happening’

Not exactly Russian dancing grannies, but still sounds like a spectacle.

Newman might have been disappointed not to perform last year, but he has had a flourishing career before this.

He is primarily a songwriter, having won the Brit Award for British Single of the Year in 2014 for his chart-topping song, Waiting All Night, which was performed by Rudimental and Ella Eyre.

He then followed it up with another number one single – Blame by Calvin Harris.

This song featured his brother, John Newman, who has had massive success with songs including Love Me Again.

Other massive hits penned by James Newman include Lay it On Me, by Rudimental with Ed Sheeran, which was a platinum selling smash in the UK and the US.

Newman has made a name for himself in the States too, having been nominated for two Grammy awards for work with Toni Braxton and Kesha’s track Let ‘Em Talk.

Who else is performing at Eurovision 2021?

Multiple countries have announced their 2020 acts are returning this year, although the front runners for the crown, Iceland’s Daði og Gagnamagnið, will not be performing live following a positive case of Covid-19 in the band.

The producers are pulling out all the stops to ensure it can go ahead and be worth the wait, with ‘live-on-tape’ performances having been prepared, with each country making a recording of their live performance beforehand just in case.

See the full list of contenders below:

The Eurovision final airs tonight, 8pm on BBC One.

MORE : Eurovision 2021: Who might be in with a chance of winning at this year’s competition?

MORE : Will Eurovision 2021 have a live audience?

Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Share your views in the comments below.