Anca Pop (October 22, 1984 – December 16, 2018) was a

Romanian Canadian Romanian Canadians are Canadian citizens of Romanian descent or Romania-born people who reside in Canada. According to the Canadian Census data of 2021, there are 215,885 Romanian-Canadians. Some sources estimates that this number might be as ...

singer-songwriter. On July 12, 2017, she released her self-titled debut studio album exclusively in Japan which spawned four singles including: "Free Love", "Super Cool", "Ring Around", and "Loco Poco". In 2008, she met Yugoslav and Bosnian musician Goran Bregović, and she wrote two songs for his thirteenth studio album ''Champagne for Gypsies''. After her collaboration with Bregović, she signed a record deal with

Roton Music Roton Music is an independent Romanian record label established in 1994. The company has hundreds of employees, having offices in Bucharest, Iași, Cluj and Timișoara. In 2011, Roton Music entered into a licensing deal with Warner Music Group f ...

. She also appeared on the cover of

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

for the July–August issue.

Early life

Anca Pop was born on October 22, 1984 in

Moldova Nouă Moldova Nouă (; ; ; or ''Bošňák''; sr, Нова Молдава) is a town in southwestern Romania in Caraș-Severin County (the historical region of Banat), in an area known as '' Clisura Dunării''. The town administers three villages: M ...

, Romania. When she was 3 years old, her parents fled the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Once they arrived they were taken to a

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

near

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

; they stayed there 7 months before going to a political asylum in

Kitchener, Ontario ) , image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg , image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg , blank_emblem_type = ...

, Canada. She started being passionated by music, and she started taking

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and

singing lessons Vocal pedagogy is the study of the art and science of voice instruction. It is used in the teaching of singing and assists in defining what singing is, how singing works, and how proper singing technique is accomplished. Vocal pedagogy covers a ...

when she was 7 years old. Eventually her parents came back in Romania as soon as the communism ended.

Career

Her debut single, "Free Love", was released on April 28, 2015 with an accompanying music video on the same day. A month later, another version of the video was released for Playboy magazine. "Free Love" was also voted by 100,000 people as the best pop song of July during a poll for OurStage. "Super Cool" was released on March 24, 2016 as the second single from her upcoming debut studio album. In May of the same year she was invited along with Emil Rengle to the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

for a possible collaboration with them. The third single, "Ring Around", was released on January 25, 2017 with an accompanying music video on the same day. The fourth single, "Loco Poco", was released in 38 countries on May 26, 2017 by Roton and Edel Italy.

Personal life

She lived in an apartment in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. She was passionated by spirituality and she searched for inspiration in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. She came out as

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

on a TV show named ''Totul pentru dragoste'', and she had an open relationship with a girl named Fraga.

Death

The singer died on December 16, 2018, after she lost control of her car for unknown reasons and the car plunged into the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

river, near the commune

Svinița Svinița ( ro, Svinița, sr, Свињица or Svinjica, hu, Szinice) is a commune in Mehedinți County, Romania, located on the Danube (in the area of the Banat known as Clisura Dunării – ''Banatska Klisura'' in Serbian). It is composed of a ...

, while she was heading to her parents' home. Three divers, helped by military of the emergency authorities, were involved in the recovery of the body. The funeral took place on December 20, 2018, on the Danube's shore, in the commune of Sviniţa, being the artist's wish to be buried as close to the place of death.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pop, Anca 1984 births 2018 deaths Romanian singer-songwriters Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters People from Moldova Nouă Romanian refugees Romanian emigrants to Canada Road incident deaths in Romania Deaths by drowning LGBT record producers Romanian bisexual people Romanian LGBT singers Romanian LGBT songwriters Canadian bisexual musicians Canadian bisexual writers Canadian LGBT singers Canadian LGBT songwriters Bisexual singers Bisexual songwriters Bisexual women musicians 21st-century Romanian LGBT people 21st-century Canadian LGBT people