Markus Riva facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Markus Riva
Riva in July 2017
Background information
Birth name	Miķelis Ļaksa
Born	(1986-10-02) 2 October 1986 (age 38) Talsi, Latvia
Genres	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2009–present

Markus Riva, whose real name is Miķelis Ļaksa, is a popular singer from Latvia. He was born on October 2, 1986. He has released many music albums, starting with his first one, Ticu, in 2009.

Before becoming a famous singer, Markus worked as a DJ at Capital FM. He also wrote music for different TV shows. He gets his creative ideas from other artists like Beyoncé and Robyn.

Markus Riva's Music Journey

Competing in Music Shows

Markus Riva has often taken part in Latvia's national music competition. This show picks the artist who will represent Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest. He has entered this competition almost every year since 2014.

In 2014, he first entered the Dziesma 2014 contest with his song "Lights On". He made it to the final, finishing 11th. In 2015, Markus released his first song in Russian, called "Taty". The music video for this song was made by a famous director, Alan Badoev.

Later in 2015, he tried again in the Supernova competition. He sang "Take Me Down", which was the English version of "Taty". He came in second place in the final. The winner that year was Aminata with her song "Love Injected". In 2016, Markus entered Supernova with "I Can". He placed third in his semi-final, but did not make it to the final round.

Since 2017, Markus Riva has also been the host of X Faktors. This is the Latvian version of the popular TV show The X Factor. In the same year, he competed in Supernova again with his song "Dynamite". He did not qualify from his heat.

In 2018, Markus entered Supernova with "This Time". Even though there were some technical issues with the voting, he made it to the final. He finished fifth out of eight entries. In 2019, he sang "You Make Me So Crazy" in Supernova. He qualified from the semi-final and came in second place in the final. The band Carousel won that year with their song "That Night".

Markus returned to Supernova in 2022 with "If You're Gonna Love Me", but did not reach the final. In 2023, he was chosen to perform "Forever". This song made it to the final and finished in fourth place. He is also set to compete in Supernova 2025 with his song "Bigger than This".

Markus Riva's Supernova Performances

Markus Riva's Music

Studio Albums

Markus Riva has released several studio albums:

• Ticu (2009)
• Songs from NYC (2010)
• How It Feels (2013)
• MR (2015)
• I CAN (2018)
• Laika Upe (2019)

Singles

He has also released many single songs, including:

• "Fire" (2013)
• "We Dance for Reason" (2014)
• "Lights On" (2014)
• "Forever" (2014)
• "Take Me Down" (2014)
• "Таты" (2015)
• "Красива сильно" (feat. Arthur Dennys) (2015)
• "Take Me Away" (2015)
• "I Can" (2016)
• "Love Me Harder" (2016)
• "Laika Upe" (2016)
• "Ты влюблена" (2016)
• "Saucu Tevi Vēl" (2016)
• "Река любви" (2016)
• "Dynamite" (2017)
• "Девушка с глянца" (2017)
• "Ko sirds mana jūt" (2017)
• "Южные ветра" (feat. Arthur Dennys) (2017)
• "Не зови" (2017)
• "Kā būs, tā būs" (2017)
• "This Time" (2017)
• "Ziemassvētkos" (2017)
• "Куда ночь заведёт" (2018)
• "Nevaru Tā" (2018)
• "Last Dance" (with Aminata) (2018)
• "По венам алкоголь" / "You Make Me So Crazy" (2018)
• "Es Tev Šodien Teikšu Jā" (with Intars Busulis and Reinis Sējāns) (2019)
• "Kamēr Vien Mēs Esam" (with Dināra Rudāne) (2019)
• "Ты пьёшь мою кровь" (2019)
• "Не владею собой" (2019)
• "Пьяная голая" (2019)
• "Impossible" (2020)
• "If You're Gonna Love Me" (2022)