Destiny Chukunyere

Destiny Chukunyere MQR (born 29 August 2002) is a Maltese singer from Birkirkara, Malta. She won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015, where she represented Malta with the song "Not My Soul".

Destiny Chukunyere
Chukunyere performing at JESC 2015
Background information
Born	(2002-08-29) 29 August 2002 Birkirkara, Malta
Genres	Pop R&B soul funk
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2013–present

In 2017, she participated in the eleventh series of Britain's Got Talent and finished 6th in the second semi-final and thus was eliminated. She won the second season of the Maltese version of The X Factor and was chosen to represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam with the song "All of My Love", before the contest was cancelled due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. However, Destiny has been confirmed to represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam.

Life and career

Family and early life

Chukunyere was born on 29 August 2002. She lives in Birkirkara and currently attends a secondary school in Ħamrun.[1] Her father is Nigerian (Igbo[2]) former footballer Ndubisi Chukunyere, while her mother is Maltese.[3] She has two younger siblings; a sister named Melody and a brother named Isaiah.[4]

Prior to her participation in the Junior Eurovision, Chukunyere participated in various singing competitions including Festival Kanzunetta Indipendenza 2014 in which she placed third with the song "Festa t'Ilwien"; and won the Asterisks Music Festival, and SanRemo Junior in Italy.[5]

Junior Eurovision 2015

See also: Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Destiny during a press conference for the JESC in 2016

On 11 July 2015, Chukunyere won the Maltese national final held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. She represented Malta at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015, in Sofia, Bulgaria on 21 November.[6]

Chukunyere won the live national final with the Aretha Franklin song "Think", enabling her to represent Malta; her Junior Eurovision entry called "Not My Soul" was composed by Elton Zarb and written by Muxu with her involvement.[7][8] Chukunyere won the contest with 185 points breaking the previous record score set by María Isabel in 2004.[9]

On 13 December 2015, Chukunyere and her team were awarded the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika.[8]

2017: Britain's Got Talent

Main article: Britain's Got Talent (series 11)

In early 2017, Chukunyere auditioned for series 11 of ITV's Britain's Got Talent singing "Think", by Aretha Franklin, where she was given four yeses. Her audition was aired on 20 May. She has received praise from established music critic Simon Cowell and international renowned tenor Joseph Calleja.[10] After listening and watching her perform, Cowell told to the rest of the judges that they "have been waiting for someone to come out who ... could be a star, and" Destiny may be the one.[11] On 27 May, she was announced as one of the qualifiers to the live shows and performed in the second semi-final on 30 May.[12] She placed 6th in the semi-final and thus was eliminated.

Eurovision Song Contest 2019

In 2019, Chukunyere appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel as the Maltese entrant, Michela Pace's backing singer for her song, "Chameleon". The song qualified for the final, finishing in 14th place with 107 points.

X Factor Malta 2019–20 and Eurovision 2020

See also: Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

In 2019, Chukunyere was revealed to be taking part in the second season of X Factor Malta. She was placed in the Girls category, mentored by Ira Losco, and advanced to the live shows. On 8 February 2020, she won the competition and therefore was supposed to represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 at Rotterdam, Netherlands. However, on 18 March 2020, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 16 May 2020, it was confirmed that Chukunyere would represent Malta at the 2021 contest with a new song.

References

1. "Who is Destiny Chukunyere?". TVM. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
2. "Nigerian Igbo tribe presents Destiny with recognition award". Oikotimes. 2 January 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
3. Cremona, George (12 July 2015). ""Xħin rebħet binti, aġixxejt qisni rbaħt logħba futbol" – Ndubisi Chuckunyere" (in Maltese). Newsbook. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
4. Zammit, Mark Lawrence (19 October 2016). "RITRATT: L-ewwel ritratt ta' Melody, oħt Destiny Chukunyere" (in Maltese). Xarabank. Archived from the original on 18 November 2016.
5. "Three Maltese singers for San Remo Junior". The Times (Malta). 12 April 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
6. Fisher, Luke James (11 July 2015). "Destiny Chukunyere to represent Malta in Sofia!". EBU. European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015.
7. Pace, Fiorella (12 July 2015). "So happy to have won such a prestigious contest but I wish to remain the Destiny that I am". TVM. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
8. "Junior Eurovision 2015 winning team feature in Republic Day honours". TVM. 13 December 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
9. Ross, Samantha (21 November 2015). "Breaking News: Congratulations, Malta!". EBU. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016.
10. Galea, Stefan Paul (20 May 2017). "Destiny gets thumbs up from Simon Cowell". Malta Today. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017.
11. Gatt, Christopher (23 May 2017). "Worried about Malta's Destiny". The Times. Malta.
12. "It's almost time for Semi-final 2! Here are the acts hoping to win your votes". ITV. 30 May 2017. Archived from the original on 30 May 2017.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Federica Falzon with "Diamonds"	Malta in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015	Succeeded by Christina Magrin with "Parachute"
Preceded by Vincenzo Cantiello with "Tu primo grande amore"	Winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015	Succeeded by Mariam Mamadashvili with "Mzeo"
Preceded by Michela Pace with "Chameleon"	Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021	Succeeded by Incumbent