Eurovision star Sonia sings with Ukraine refugees
BBCNineties Eurovision star Sonia has said it is a dream come true for her home city to host the contest she nearly won.
The Eurovision runner-up spoke after performing her hit You'll Never Stop Me Loving You with The European Youth Refugee Choir.
"I never ever dreamed I'd get chance to perform again. I really didn't. It's just bonkers," she said.
Liverpool is hosting the competition on behalf of war-torn Ukraine on 13 May.
The performance came on the day King Charles III and Queen Consort visited the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool which is staging the song contest and unveiled the event's set.
Sonia, who came second in the 1993 contest singing Better the Devil You Know, said it gave her "great pleasure" to perform with the refugees at the Everyman Theatre.
"The things that [the members of the choir] have been through... we are so lucky," she added.
'So chuffed'
"I'm just so chuffed because I did it 30 years ago which I can't believe and I nearly won it.
"I said to everybody 'if I win it's got to come back to Liverpool it's just got to'... and now my dream's come true but 30 years later."
Tetiana, a singer and vocal coach, fled Ukraine with her two children when the war broke out and said joining the choir had been her first chance to be back on stage since leaving her homeland.
"Because of the war and that we had to leave our place for some time - now it is more of pleasure for me than work," she said.
"To be in this hoodie with Eurovision Song Contest on it is also a big pleasure for me."
The contest is being held in Liverpool after last year's UK entrant Sam Ryder finished runner-up to Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra.
As Russia's invasion of Ukraine prevented the winning country from hosting the 2023 contest, organisers said the UK would stage the show on its behalf.
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