SunStroke Project is a Moldovan musical duo composed of Sergei Yalovitsky (vocals) and Sergey Stepanov (saxophonist). They achieved fame for representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with Olia Tira, and again in the 2017 contest. The duo was originally formed as a trio, including both current members in addition to Anton Ragoza. The name of the group was chosen by Ragoza whilst working in the army with Sergey Stepanov, after he had an incident in which he was affected by heat stroke whilst on a field exercise.
On 25 February 2017, SunStroke Project was selected once more to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Hey, Mamma!", and finished in third place after qualifying for the final on 9 May.
In 2019, due to unreasonable disagreements, Anton Ragoza ceased to be part of the group. Sunstroke Project has continued as a duo. Their first single as a duo Boomerang was released in April 2019.
2007–2008: "Sunstroke" era: Early pre-vocal releases
Shortly after the band was founded in 2007, their first (and, as of 2014, only) official album, Don't word more.. was released. The album is very rare, and only a few tracks are currently known to have been a part of it. One track, "Scream", is known to be the predecessor to Scream released a few years later with Myslicky.
2008–2009: Pasha Parfeny era
From late 2008 to summer 2009, Moldovan vocalist Pasha Parfeny joined the band. Three singles were released during this few-month period. Each were produced by Alex Brashovean of the former Moldovan band O-Zone. They sang for the Eurovision 2009 pre-selection for Moldova, where they took the 3rd place with the hit No Crime. Nelly Ciobanu was elected to represent Moldova at the contest that year.
2010: Eurovision, Myslitsky era
"Believe" was the first new single to be released by the band with Sergei Yalovitsky as lead vocalist (A reworked In Your Eyes was the first single to be released with Yalovitsky). It was also their original entry to Moldova's national selection for Eurovision 2010 until it was withdrawn (as well as Olia Tira's entry) in favor of "Run Away". SunStroke Project together with Olia Tira represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Run Away". The final of the O melodie pentru Europa 2010 pre-selection took place in Chișinău on 6 March 2010, with the song gaining the maximum 12 points from both the jury and SMS-voting. The song reached 22nd place in the contest which had 39 entries. A collaboration between both artists. Along with DJ Alexei Myslicky, several other singles were produced throughout 2010. He later departed to form Offbeat Orchestra in Russia in late 2010.
2011–present: Touring and yearly singles
Since 2011, Sunstroke Project has toured extensively and has worked more closely with their longtime label, Sens Music. An entry was made for SunStroke Project and Olia Tira to represent Moldova in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the single "Superman" but it did not make the next stage of selection. SunStroke Project attempted to represent Moldova in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest entering with two songs: "Lonely" and "Day After Day", the latter with Michael Ra. Both entries qualified to the semi-final from the live audition round. However, as only one song could be chosen per artist, Sunstroke Project chose "Day After Day" to ultimately move forward. After qualifying from the semi-final, they finished third in the national final. SunStroke Project attempted to represent Moldova in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest once again, with the upbeat electro-house song "Hey, Mamma!". The band came in first place after a tight voting procedure, qualifying them to represent Moldova in the Song Contest in May. They reached third place with their performance in the 2017 competition, giving Moldova their best result in the contest. On returning to Moldova, SunStroke Project was awarded the Order of Honour by the President of Moldova Igor Dodon. Sunstroke Project were also featured in Season 2 of the Netflix series, "Travels With My Father," wherein British comedian Jack Whitehall travels to Moldova with his father, Michael Whitehall, in order to meet and perform with the members of Sunstroke Project.
SunStroke Project is a Moldovan musical duo composed of Sergei Yalovitsky (vocals) and Sergey Stepanov (saxophonist). They achieved fame for representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with Olia Tira, and again in the 2017 contest. The duo was originally formed as a trio, including both current members in addition to Anton Ragoza. The name of the group was chosen by Ragoza whilst working in the army with Sergey Stepanov, after he had an incident in which he was affected by heat stroke whilst on a field exercise.
On 25 February 2017, SunStroke Project was selected once more to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Hey, Mamma!", and finished in third place after qualifying for the final on 9 May.
In 2019, due to unreasonable disagreements, Anton Ragoza ceased to be part of the group. Sunstroke Project has continued as a duo. Their first single as a duo Boomerang was released in April 2019.
2007–2008: "Sunstroke" era: Early pre-vocal releases
Shortly after the band was founded in 2007, their first (and, as of 2014, only) official album, Don't word more.. was released. The album is very rare, and only a few tracks are currently known to have been a part of it. One track, "Scream", is known to be the predecessor to Scream released a few years later with Myslicky.
2008–2009: Pasha Parfeny era
From late 2008 to summer 2009, Moldovan vocalist Pasha Parfeny joined the band. Three singles were released during this few-month period. Each were produced by Alex Brashovean of the former Moldovan band O-Zone. They sang for the Eurovision 2009 pre-selection for Moldova, where they took the 3rd place with the hit No Crime. Nelly Ciobanu was elected to represent Moldova at the contest that year.
2010: Eurovision, Myslitsky era
"Believe" was the first new single to be released by the band with Sergei Yalovitsky as lead vocalist (A reworked In Your Eyes was the first single to be released with Yalovitsky). It was also their original entry to Moldova's national selection for Eurovision 2010 until it was withdrawn (as well as Olia Tira's entry) in favor of "Run Away". SunStroke Project together with Olia Tira represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Run Away". The final of the O melodie pentru Europa 2010 pre-selection took place in Chișinău on 6 March 2010, with the song gaining the maximum 12 points from both the jury and SMS-voting. The song reached 22nd place in the contest which had 39 entries. A collaboration between both artists. Along with DJ Alexei Myslicky, several other singles were produced throughout 2010. He later departed to form Offbeat Orchestra in Russia in late 2010.
2011–present: Touring and yearly singles
Since 2011, Sunstroke Project has toured extensively and has worked more closely with their longtime label, Sens Music. An entry was made for SunStroke Project and Olia Tira to represent Moldova in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the single "Superman" but it did not make the next stage of selection. SunStroke Project attempted to represent Moldova in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest entering with two songs: "Lonely" and "Day After Day", the latter with Michael Ra. Both entries qualified to the semi-final from the live audition round. However, as only one song could be chosen per artist, Sunstroke Project chose "Day After Day" to ultimately move forward. After qualifying from the semi-final, they finished third in the national final. SunStroke Project attempted to represent Moldova in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest once again, with the upbeat electro-house song "Hey, Mamma!". The band came in first place after a tight voting procedure, qualifying them to represent Moldova in the Song Contest in May. They reached third place with their performance in the 2017 competition, giving Moldova their best result in the contest. On returning to Moldova, SunStroke Project was awarded the Order of Honour by the President of Moldova Igor Dodon. Sunstroke Project were also featured in Season 2 of the Netflix series, "Travels With My Father," wherein British comedian Jack Whitehall travels to Moldova with his father, Michael Whitehall, in order to meet and perform with the members of Sunstroke Project.