Eleanor Cassar (born September 29, 1982) is a Maltese pop singer. She won the 2004

Golden Stag Festival The Golden Stag Festival () is an international pop song contest, festival, and award show, held annually in the Piața Sfatului of Braşov, Romania. First held in 1968, the festival honors musical talents both in Romania and abroad. Non-Roman ...

Early life and education

Eleanor Cassar was first introduced to music at age 6, as part of her school choir. She was first noticed by her teacher in Secondary school, who encouraged her at participate at musical and theatrical events. The same teacher encouraged her to take singing seriously. Cassar has a certificate of merit from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

Career

In 2001, Cassar won the first prize at the ''Discovery Song Festival'' in

Varna, Bulgaria Varna (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, third-largest city in Bulgaria and the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in the Northern Bulgaria region. Situated strategically in the Gulf of Varna, t ...

. In 2002, she won the first prize at ''The People's Song Festival''. In 2004, she won the

, the largest music festival in Europe behind Eurovision. Her win with the song "If Love You Give" also marked the first time a Maltese singer had won the event. Cassar won both the first prize at the ''Super One'' festival and the prize for Best Interpretation offered by FIDOF. In September 2005, she sang at the Astana Song Festival in

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. In 2006, Eleanor Cassar won the Malta International TV Song Festival with "Bniedem Iehor" by songwriters Paul Giordimaina and Fleur Balzan. She represented Malta at the Universe Song Festival 2007 in Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain) where she won the first prize, again. In 2008, Cassar competed in a song contest in Kazakhstan which celebrated the 10th anniversary of Astana, the country's capital. Her duet with Paul Giordimaina, "The Envy Of The World", won the pair the Best Song Award and the Astana City Award. The song and an accompanying video were used in tourism campaigns for Astana. In 2010, Cassar released the album ''Signify''. The album included a number of songs Cassar had previously performed in contests and festivals, all of which were composed by Paul Giordimaina, with lyrics by Fleur Balzan. That same year, Cassar performed "Choices" at Malta Eurosong. In 2018, Cassar sang in a musical

Passion play The Passion Play or Easter pageant is a dramatic Play (theatre), presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus: his Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, trial, suffering and death. The viewing of and participation in Passion Plays is a traditional part of L ...

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

, produced by the Valletta 2018 Foundation.

Influences

Cassar enjoys soul, funk, and rock music, and has cited

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

as a musical influence.

Maltese Eurovision Selection

Cassar has competed in the Song for Europe Festival, Malta's Eurovision Selection contest, nine times between 2003 and 2018. In 2003, she participated for the first time with the songs "Someday You'll See" and "Tell Me Why". Cassar's highest placement in the Maltese Eurovision Selection was second place in 2009, with the song "Someday"; she finished only three points behind the winner.

Personal life

Cassar has a daughter.

Discography

Albums

* ''Signify'' (2010)

Singles

* "Back to Life" (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassar, Eleanor 1982 births Living people 21st-century Maltese women singers 21st-century Maltese singers Golden Stag winners Maltese pop singers Women pop singers