Ell & Nikki

Ell & Nikki is an Azerbaijani pop duo consisting of singers Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal. On May 14, 2011, they won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 for Azerbaijan with their entry "Running Scared". It was the country's first ever win at the contest. Although Nigar Jamal represented Azerbaijan, she lives in Enfield, North London.

National final constellation

Gasimov and Jamal separately took part in the Azerbaijani national selection, Milli Seçim Turu 2011. They qualified from the semi-finals along with three other artists to the final on 11 February 2011, where they won the right to represent Azerbaijan at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany in May 2011. Although it was originally planned to send an individual as Azerbaijan, when the winner was announced, ITV had decided that both Eldar and Nigar would be going to Germany as a duo.

Eurovision win

In the 2011 Eurovision song contest Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal performed together under the duo name Ell & Nikki. As the contest was taking place in a Western European country, the name change was made to prevent confusion of Jamal's first name being interpreted as a racial slur. Their entry, named "Running Scared", was written by Stefan Örn and Sandra Bjurman from Sweden and Iain Farguhanson from the UK. The duo were aided significantly by the four Swedish backing singers, including Jessica Marberger and Vera Prada who had earlier in the year attempted to represent Sweden as part of Shirley's Angels.

They were the overall winners of the Eurovision final on 14 May which meant that Azerbaijan has the right to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

Background information
Origin: Baku, Azerbaijan
Genres: Pop
Years active: 2011 – present
Members: Eldar Gasimovh, Nigar Jamal