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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Josh Luckhurst

Meet the woman behind in-demand Eurovision superstar Sam Ryder

The proverb says that behind every great man is a great woman and that is no different for the United Kingdom's Eurovision hero Sam Ryder.

The artist brought the country together as we dreamt of a first Eurovision victory in 25 years when he was sat on top of the pile after the jury votes were counted.

Space Man was only pipped to the crown due to the generosity of the public votes from around Europe to Ukraine, who still performed on stage despite Russia's invasion on their homeland.

Kalush Orchestra took 431 points from a maximum 468 in the public vote as they shot into an unassailable and emotional victory in Turin, Italy, on Saturday evening.

Sam Ryder and his girlfriend Lois Gaskin-Barker (Instagram)

Although Sam had to settle for second place - the UK's 16th runner-up spot in the singing contest's history - he was ably supported by close friends and family, including girlfriend Lois Gaskin-Barker.

The pair have been by one another's side supporting each other through all of their endeavours, which looks to have peaked after Sam's star performance at the weekend.

Together, they owned Lone Wolves Organic juice bar in Coggeshall in Essex from 2017 to 2019, with Lois selling her own jewellery on her Instagram page Lone Wolves Creative.

The couple owned Lone Wolves Organic juice bar in Coggeshall in Essex from 2017 to 2019 (Instagram)

It was not all rosy for the 32-year-old singer, who only a few years ago was a budding builder while also managing the juice bar as his music dreams seemed to slip by him.

However, during the coronavirus pandemic Ryder started to stir up a following on TikTok, with global stars such as Justin Bieber and Alicia Keys among those to like the clips he has posted.

Videos included him singing Britney Spears songs in his mum's kitchen, which turned him into a viral superstar.

Sam finished an incredible second place in Turin last weekend (Daniele Venturelli / WireImage)

Sam has now got 12.7 million followers on the social media platform, more than any other British musician and that is only going to trend upwards following last weekend's performance.

Speaking ahead of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, he told The Sun: "I didn't get involved in this with any expectation. I started out singing Britney Spears in my mum's kitchen as high as I could I had no idea that it would snowball."

Ukraine act Kalush Orchestra won Eurovision 2022 (Getty Images)

He signed for Parlophone in 2021 and released an EP called The Sun's Gonna Rise during the same year as his music aspirations came back to fruition thanks to TikTok, with more plans in the pipeline for the rest of 2022.

In an interview with Zoe Ball on Radio 2 Breakfast Show, he said: "Tons of festivals this year, tour dates just gone up around Europe, I’m sure there’ll be more news for the UK very soon.

"Single, as well, working on the mix of that now. There’s tons of stuff."

Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@mirror.co.uk or call us direct 0207 29 33033.

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