Ines refers to several artists: 1) Eda-Ines Etti (born 26 May 1981 in Haapsalu) is a singer and celebrity in Estonia, also known to a wider international audience for her association, in various forms, with her country's enthusiastic participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2000, under her abbreviated stage name Ines, she was Estonia's representative for the contest in Sweden. Her song "Once in a Lifetime" had been tipped for what would have been a famous victory, but in the end came fourth, which in fact represented only a modest advance on the encouraging results Estonia had enjoyed in previous years. In a strange twist of fate, however, one of her backing singers, Tanel Padar, won the right along with Dave Benton to represent Estonia the following year, but this time a serious challenge did not appear to be on the cards. Against all the odds, the pair stormed to victory with the song "Everybody", claiming for Estonia the cherished right to become the first former Eastern bloc country to stage the contest in 2002. This had an unusual political significance, as Estonia was in the midst of negotiations to join the European Union, and hosting the contest offered an invaluable opportunity to present the country to the rest of continent as a modern, vibrant European nation. There seemed every chance that Ines would once again be Estonia's public face at this pivotal moment, as she had reportedly been lined up to sing "Runaway", the front-runner for Eurolaul, the Estonian national selection contest for Eurovision. However, she pulled out at the last moment, apparently concluding that one appearance at the Eurovision was enough for her. Given the unfortunate timing, an experienced Swedish singer, Sahlene, was hurriedly drafted in to perform "Runaway" at Eurolaul. The song was deservedly still selected, but this left Estonia in the odd position of having a Swede represent them during their precious moment in the spotlight. This caused a great deal of controversy, with Ines' role in the affair inevitably coming under question. Given her cold feet about singing in Eurovision again, it is perhaps surprising that Eda-Ines Etti has since gone on to practically become her country's 'Miss Eurovision' in a number of other ways, from taking on the role of national spokeswoman during the voting procedure, to becoming a co-presenter of Eurolaul in 2005. In 2002, Ines became the face for the Finnish mobile ticketing company Plusdial.[1] Ines's first album in Estonian, 15 magamata ööd, was issued in 2004. The title-track of the record brought her the second "Female Artist of the Year" at the Estonian Music Awards. Ines' backup band was formed in 2005, including her brother Ivo Etti (bass guitar), Siim Mäesalu (piano), Erki Pärnoja (lead guitar), and Magnus Pajupuu (drums). The first two instrumentalists were freshly recruited from the Ruffus,[2] the participants of Eurovision Song Contest 2003. The first record of the new formation was Ines' album Uus päev.[2] This included Ines' second Eurovision entry, the song "Iseendale". The song came a close second to the winner "Through My Window", performed by the Swedish Sandra Oxenryd. "Iseendale" was notable as the only Estonian language song entered in 2006. Ines' third Eurolaul entry was the song entitled "In Good and Bad" in 2007, passed without notable success. Her album Kustutame vead earned her the nomination for the Female Artist of the Year.[3] In 2008, Eda-Ines Etti won the Estonian version of the Just the Two of Us reality television singing contest in duet with the Chief General Manager of IBM Estonia Valdo Randpere.[4] Eda-Ines Etti maintains a high profile in the popular imagination of the Estonian public. She and Martin Saar - a controversial young New York artist who remained her close companion for three years - were seen as the young golden couple of Estonia. In 2008, they broke up. Later in the year, Ines found new love in a Portuguese called Francesco.[2] Currently Ines is working on her fifth studio album set to release in late spring or early summer 2009. 2) Ines is yugoslavian singer best known by her singl A bilo je jutro i sunce na pomolu kad sam tebi pripala ja Eurovision Song Contest 2000 - Stockholm Entry for Estonia Performer: Ines Song title: Once In A Lifetime Song writer(s): Jana Hallas Song composer(s): Pearu Paulus/ Ilmar Laisaar/ Alar Kotkas Sang in Position: 4 Final Position: 4 Total Points: 98 25 participating countries were intended for the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, but Greece decided not to participate, so only 24 took part as the European Broadcasting Union did not find a replacement in time for the last spot. Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania and Bosnia & Herzegovina were not allowed to take part due to their bad average scores. Latvia made its debut this year, and the entry My Star performed by the group Brainstorm did really well, finishing in third position. Estonia finished fourth with Ines' Once In A Lifetime which was the bookmaker's favourite. Internet polls also had the United Kingdom and the Netherlands as favourites but these countries only finished 16th and 13th respectively. 13,000 spectators were at the final in the Globen Arena in Stockholm, which was a new record. This record did not last long, though. Already at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen 2001, the record was exceeded. The Israeli participants caused a stir when members of the group Ping Pong started waving the Syrian flag during their performance. The Netherlands had to use a back-up jury for their votes because of a large fireworks disaster in the city of Enschede, which meant that only half of the song contest was aired live on Dutch television. About the winner Despite the fact that Denmark's song Fly On The Wings Of Love by the Olsen Brothers climbed in the predicted rankings in the week prior to the final, the Scandinavian country was only thought to finish in 18th position. Therefore it came as a huge surprise for many that the charming Olsen Brothers won - and with a large margin to the runner-up, Russia. Fly on the wings of love went on to become a huge hit in Scandinavia and the German-speaking countries. The Russian delegation petitioned the disqualification of the winner, Denmark, because a vocoder had been used to give one of the performers in the Danish duo, Jørgen Olsen, an electronic sound to his voice during one part of their performance. For the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, an official CD was released which included all 24 songs. Since then, CDs with all entries have been released every year. 3. INES is an Indonesian singer-songwriter based in New York.