Elhaida Dani (; born 17 February 1993) is an Albanian singer-songwriter. Born and raised in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

, Dani performed in diverse singing competitions and started to play piano as a child. She rose to national recognition in the Albanian-speaking Balkans, after her victories at Star Academy Albania, Top Fest and . In Italy, she is also prominent for being the winner of the first series of ''

The Voice of Italy ''The Voice of Italy'' is a reality singing competition and Italian version of the international syndication '' The Voice'' based on the reality singing competition launched in the Netherlands, created by Dutch television producer John de Mol Jr ...

''. Dani represented Albania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

with the song " I'm Alive", after she won the 53rd edition of . She participated in Kënga Magjike for the first time in 2017 with the song " E Ngrirë" whereas she finished second. She rose again great popularity in Italy as well as in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

upon her international acting debut in the musical of .

Life and career

1993–2012: Early life and career beginnings

Elhaida Dani was born on 17 February 1993 into an Albanian family in the city of

, Albania. She started singing at the age of four and subsequently took piano lesson. She later studied musicology at the University of Arts in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

. Dani started her initial forays into the music industry in 2009 as she won a multitude of music festivals, including Star Academy,

Sunčane Skale Sunčane Skale was a pop music festival held every summer in Herceg Novi, Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_ ...

, Festivalul George Grigoriu and Nova Musica. In December 2011, she attempted to represent Albania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki song), Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki, El ...

, following her unsuccessful participation at the 50th edition of Festivali i Këngës with the song "Mijëra vjet". In June 2012, she was chosen as the winner of the ninth edition of Top Fest with the song "S'je më".

2013–2015: ''The Voice of Italy'' and Eurovision

In March 2013, Dani successfully auditioned for the first season of

singing " Mamma Knows Best" for judges Piero Pelù, Raffaella Carrà,

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the United States as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian and French singer and songwriter. Early and personal life Cocciante was born on 20 February 19 ...

and Noemi and persuaded all four coaches to turn their chairs and chose to compete as one of the members of Team Cocciante. Dani received high scores in the time of her tenure on the show and ultimately won the competition in the final in May 2013 with over 70% of the votes. Later that year, she signed a record contract with the Italian subsidiary label of

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

. In October 2014, the broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), announced Dani as one of the contestants selected to compete in the 53rd edition of Festivali i Këngës with the song " Diell". She emerged as the winner of Festivali i Këngës and was thus confirmed as Albania's representative for the

. After being selected, Dani announced that she had changed her song to " I'm Alive", due to the composer's withdrawal of "Diell". In the contest, Albania qualified for the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

during the first semi-final and ultimately finished in the 17th place with a total of 34 points.

2016–present: Notre-Dame de Paris and continued success

Esmeralda at Palais de Congress in Paris

In 2016, she has been called by

and

Luc Plamondon Luc Plamondon (born March 2, 1942) is a French Canadians, French-Canadian lyricist and music executive. His work includes the musicals Starmania (musical), ''Starmania'' and Notre-Dame de Paris (musical), ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He is the brot ...

to play the role of Esmeralda in the world renown musical '' Notre Dame de Paris''. And since 2016 she is touring worldwide. In December she competed in Kënga Magjike ending up in second place with 988 points. Returning after a three-year absence, Dani released her second extended play ''Zanin'' on 20 September 2021, which she created with Albanian songwriters and producers such as Alban Kondi, Elgit Doda, Endrit Mumajesi and Kledi Bahiti. Since October 2022, she has been competing on the 8th season of Dancing with the Stars Albania, getting the maximum jury points on several occasions during the live shows. December 2022 Elhaida Dani released a new single “Vetja”. The song is written by Kledi Bahiti.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

Other charted songs

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dani, Elhaida 1993 births 21st-century Albanian women singers Albanian expatriates in Italy Albanian-language singers Albanian Muslims Albanian pianists Albanian women pianists Albanian songwriters Festivali i Këngës winners Living people Musicians from Shkodër The Voice (franchise) winners 21st-century women pianists Eurovision Song Contest entrants