Meet Elhaida Dani (Albania): "I feel very alive with this song"

About Elhaida Dani

Elhaida Dani is a real star not only in her home country Albania but also in Italy: Since winning The Voice of Italy in 2013, she has had many successful releases and tours. Reaching the first place in Festivali i Këngës in December 2014 gained her the right to represent Albania in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.

Elhaida Dani was born on February 17, 1993 in Shkodra, Albania. She started to sing when she was four years old. She studied piano at school.

In 2009 she took part and won the talent show Star Academy. After this show she released her first song Si asnjëherë and later two more songs Fjala e fundit and Vetmia. She started studying musicology in the University of Arts of Tirana.

Elhaida has taken part in several music competitions in Albania and abroad, winning prestigious awards, among others the best New Artist of the Festival Suncane Skale in Montenegro and the "Grand Prix" in the festival Nova Musica in Bulgaria.

In June 2012 Elhaida won the Top Fest show in Albania, and the song she presented, S’je me, became a hit. In 2013 she became The Voice of Italy after having been a part of Riccardo Cocciante Team. In 2013 she released When Love Calls Your Name by Cocciante and Baciami e Basta by Francesco Silvestre and Modà.

During 2013-14 she has been touring Italy performing on the same stage together with Patti Smith, Elisa, Fiorella Mannoia, Dolores O’Riordan, Fausto Leali, Giovanni Allevi, Caro Emerald and many others.