Toussaint Michael Chiza (born 1 January 2002), better known as Tusse, is a Congolese-Swedish singer who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[1]
Chiza was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo[2] When he was five years old he had to flee his country. He lived in Uganda in a refugee camp with his aunt for three years. He came to Sweden with his aunt as a refugee at just 8 years old. In Sweden, he started to live with a family in the village of Kullsbjörken where he has resided since 2015.[3][4] He participated as a singer in the Swedish talent show Talang 2018 (as Tousin Chiza) which was also broadcast on TV4; he made it to the semifinals before being eliminated.[5] He received praise for his semifinal performance from judge Bianca Ingrosso.[6] Tusse was a finalist in Swedish Idol 2019,[7] broadcast on TV4, alongside Freddie Liljegren, and was ultimately declared the winner in the final.[8][9]
After winning Swedish Idol, he released three singles, two of them songs he performed on Idol: a cover of "How Will I Know" on 22 November 2019 as a Top 12 contestant.[7] And as the winner, he released his version of the season's winning song, "Rain", on 3 December 2019.[10] As a result of his victory, he got to release his debut single as a CD single as well as on the iTunes Store. His third single is called "Innan du går"[11]
Tusse participated in Melodifestivalen 2021 with the song "Voices".[12] He qualified directly to the final, scheduled for 13 March 2021, and ultimately won with 175 points.[13][14] As a result, he represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.[15] After his first Eurovision rehearsal Tusse was the victim of racist comments on social media.[16]
In the semi-final Tusse managed to qualify for the final on 22 May.[17] In the final he reached 14th place with his song.[18] After Eurovision, he did an interview with the magazine Vanity Teen in which he talked about his personal life, his experience in Eurovision and his future career.[19]
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certification | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE [20] |
IRE [21] |
NLD [22] |
NOR [23] |
UK Down. [24] | |||||||||||
| "How Will I Know" | 2019 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||||
| "Rain" | 63 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| "Innan du går" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||
| "Jag tror på sommaren" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| "Crash" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| "Voices" | 2021 | 1 | 99 [25] | 56 | 11 | 31 |
| ||||||||
| "Grow"[27] | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| "This Is Our Christmas Song" | —[upper-alpha 1] | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||
Media related to Tusse at Wikimedia Commons
| Preceded by The Mamas with "Move" |
Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 |
Succeeded by Cornelia Jakobs with "Hold Me Closer" |
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