H.A. Der-Hovagimian
Toronto 43° 39' 12.53" N, 79° 23' 2.16" W musical artist Person
H.A. Der-Hovagimian (sometimes spelled Ter-Hovakimyan, (Traditional Armenian: Յարութիւն Տեր-Յովակիմեան, Eastern Armenian: Հարություն Տեր-Հովակիմյան)) born in Toronto, Canada, is a Canadian-Armenian music composer, songwriter and producer.
He signed his first recording contract with the newly found Hi-Bias Records imprint at the age of 17. For the following 15 years, he was mainly credited under the adopted pseudonym Mark Ryan.
For years, his main focus was his Temperance project. Starting out as a solo Tech house project, his debut commercial release was the 5-track Phantasy EP, released early 1992 on Hi-Bias Records. Temperance eventually crossed over into a more Dance-pop/Eurodance sound with the inclusion of Mark's schoolmate Lorraine Reid on vocals. Over the next couple of years Temperance won numerous top ten hits, awards, and licenses worldwide.
By 19, Mark's on the side successful remix works also led to Billboard magazine titling him one of the top remixers from Canada. In 1996, Temperance peaked with its hi-nrg cover version of the 1980s hit "Forever Young".
In 1997, after the releases of S.P.O.T. (Side Project of Temperance) and the Temperance single "Universal Dream", Mark parted ways to launch 22 Green Productions, primarily focusing on producing and remixing various local and international artists, such as soulDecision, 666, Urban Cookie Collective, Mia Minx, Emjay, and more.
Over the years, he has been credited with producing and/or remixing over 300 commercially released titles in various genres under various aliases. From 1997-2006 22 Green was the credited title of most his remix works, and from 2006, he began replacing his credited pseudonym Mark Ryan with DerHova (a variation of his real name).
His song "Qele Qele" performed by Sirusho was Armenia's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. DerHova composed the song, thought up the title, and produced the original and remix versions of the song. Out of 43 participating countries, it went on to rank 4th (Armenia's highest position), and received the most 12 points in the competition.
On September 5, 2010, his production of Mama performed by Vladimir Arzumanyan, was selected as Armenia's entry in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010. On November 20, the song went on to collect the most points (including the most 12 points) to win the contest, Armenia's first Eurovision victory.