The news that Emin Agalarov, the 33-year-old son of real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, will share the stage with Mel B, Steven Tyler, and the double platinum-selling rockers from Las Vegas emerged this week when organizers presented details about the Nov. 9 competition at Moscow`s Crocus City Hall.
Emin Agalarov, who goes by the stage name Emin and is a familiar face in Russia and Azerbaijan, might be best known in the West for his recent music video `Amor`,which features the reigning Miss Universe, U.S. citizen Olivia Culpo, and has received more than 4.6 million YouTube views since late May.
`International recording artist Emin will also take the stage during the pageant`,pageant organizers said in a statement released in New York on Thursday. `Emin spent much of this year traveling the globe promoting his hit single ‘Amor,’ which has already been released in Russia, Great Britain, his native Azerbaijan and is set for wide release this year.`
Organizers and Crocus officials offered no further public comment about the decision to include Emin.
Emin, who moved with his family to Moscow at the age of 3, appeared jubilant about the prospect of appearing before a worldwide audience at the Miss Universe pageant.
`A household name in Russia and star of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest (which boasted a live viewing audience of 150 million), Emin … will bring his music at year`s end to an astounding worldwide TV audience of over a billion viewers`, said a statement on his official website.
Miss Universe organizers said that the competition would be broadcast to an estimated 1 billion viewers in 190 countries.
Among the other celebrity participants, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler will lead this year`s jury in judging the 90 contestants in three categories: swimsuit, evening gown and interview.
The prospects of success for Russia`s contestant remain unclear. Elmira Abdrazakova, a 19-year-old native of Mezhdurechensk in Siberia`s coal-producing Kemerovo region, is an award-winning pianist who once rescued a bear cub caught in a soccer goal net at summer camp, according to her biography on the Miss Universe website.
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