Elvana Gjata

Elvana Gjata was born on 3 February 1987 into an Albanian family of the Roman Catholic faith in the city of Tirana, then part of the People's Republic of Albania, present Albania.[11][12][13] Her father Fatmir has served in the Albanian Armed Forces for more than two decades.[14] Her older sister Migena is also a singer and soprano with a musical career based in Germany.[15] She studied to become a film director at the University of Arts in Tirana.[16][17][18] Describing her early life, she has said that she was raised in a poor but happy home.[19][11]

Elvana began to dedicate herself to music when she was fourteen as she auditioned for the Albanian talent show Ethet e së premtes mbrëma.[11][20][21] After one year, she participated in Festivali i Këngës with the song "Pranë Teje" whom she dedicated to God.[22] In 2004, she released her first single "Të Kam Xhan" composed for her participation in Kënga Magjike by her future collaborator and manager Flori Mumajesi. She began working on her debut album "Mamës" shortly after.[11] Since then, she has participated two times in the aforementioned competition, including in 2007 and in 2009 placing third with the song "Ku Jeton Dashuria" in 2007, and second in 2009 with the song "Dhe Zemra Ndal".[23]

In 2011, Elvana released her second studio album Afër dhe Larg with fifteen tracks, including the eponymous single "Afër dhe Larg".[24] The single earned Elvana her first Balkan Music Awards for Best Albanian Song of the Year, Best Music Video in the Balkans and the Best Song in the Balkans.[6][25] The same year, she won the Top Festival with the song "Me Ty", which she dedicated to her friend Elsina Hidersha who died in a car accident that year.[26][7][27]

In 2012, Gjata only released one single that year. The single, called "Gjaku im" (My blood), which was accompanied with a music video, was made in order to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Independence of Albania. The music video premiered on April 28, 2012[28] and contained a strong message to the Albanian people.[29] During this year, Gjata appeared in many Albanian adverts, and she became the image of Tring Digital an Albanian TV platform[30] and of TEB Bank. Gjata had mentioned in an interview that dancing was her second passion.[31] She was asked to enter the third season of Dancing With the Stars. Her partner was Gerdi. She was the fan-favourite to win the show from the beginning. In the grand final, Gjata was declared the winner of the series.[32][33]

In early 2013, Gjata recorded five acoustic live sessions. During the year, Gjata released four new singles: "Fake", "Fake (Remix)", "Beso" (Believe) (featuring 2po2) and "1990" (featuring MC Kresha). The single "Fake" was penned by Gjata herself and she criticized the current issues in Albania.[34] The song reached a lot of success on social media and was called "Top Dance Track" on Deezer beating famous artists such as David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia and many others.[35] It also reached No. 12 on Deezer's top tracks beating Jennifer Lopez, Emeli Sande and Rihanna. She released a remix of the song later, in a collaboration with Flori Mumajesi, KAOS and P.I.N.T.[36]

Gjata was nominated for four awards at the Videofest Awards for her single "Beso" with 2Po2, in which she took home two awards. During summer, Gjata toured around the Albanian-speaking territories, as well as Switzerland, Germany and the Scandinavian countries.[37]

In early 2014, Gjata released her single "Disco Disco" which reached number one on MyMusic TV's charts and was one of the most successful Albanian songs of 2014. Later, it was announced that Gjata was the face of Albtelecom. In the summer of 2014, Gjata released another single called "Puthe" (Kiss). The single was a commercial success in Albania and many social media users paid tribute to the single.

Following several months spent in the United States, Elvana came into close liaison with prominent figures such as American producer Poo Bear and French disc jockey David Guetta.[38][39][40][38][41] In February 2017, she attended the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles upon the invitation of Poo Bear.[42] In June 2017, she released her first English-language single "Forever Is Over", which reached number one in Albania.[43] Several months later, in February 2018, she premiered her second extended play 3.[44] In April 2018, Poo Bear released his debut studio album Poo Bear Presents Bearthday Music and featured Elvana on his single "Shade".[45] The same month, she collaborated with American rapper Ty Dolla Sign on her follow-up single "Off Guard" and peaked at number twenty seven in her native country.[46]

In June 2019, Elvana collaborated a second time with Albanian rapper Capital T on "Fustani" and went on to number one in Albania.[47] The aforementioned single was preceded by "Meine Liebe" featuring German-Albanian singer Ardian Bujupi and reached number seventy three in Switzerland.[48] In August 2019, she released her follow-up single "A m'don" and went on to perform at the Sunny Hill Festival in Pristina, sharing stage with other acclaimed artists, such as Miley Cyrus, Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa.[49][50][51] In October 2019, Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar announced Elvana as one of the twenty contestants selected to compete in the 58th edition of Festivali i Këngës with the song "Me Tana".[52] She subsequently became the bookmakers and fans favourite to win the competition however, in the grand final she finished in the second place, gaining the maximum number of points from the international jury.[53]