Darja Švajger (born 16 June 1965 in

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

SR Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

) is one of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

's most popular singers, perhaps best known internationally for having represented her country in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

on two occasions.

Early life

Music entered Darja's life when she was still a child. After finishing secondary school, she entered the College of Music and attended art classes in

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, where she studied classical solo singing and jazz. In 1997, she graduated magna cum laude. Already during her studies she had started performing as a solo vocalist with various bands and symphony orchestras. Since 1992 she has been engaged in several projects of the Slovene National Theatre in

. In 1993, the international jury of the ''Melodies of the Sea and the Sun'' pop music festival, held in

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

, awarded her first prize in the Slovenian section of the international category. Her first album, ''In the Arms of the Night'', soon followed.

Albums

* 1994: ''V objemu noči'' * 1995: ''Prisluhni mi'' * 1998: ''Trenutki'' * 1999: ''Še tisoč let'' * 2001: ''Plameni'' * 2005: ''Najlepše uspešnice'' * 2008: ''Moji obrazi'' * 2013: ''Moji obrazi''

Eurovision 1995

The year 1995 was of great importance to Darja. She represented Slovenia in the

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, performing the song ''

Prisluhni mi Slovenia was represented by Darja Švajger with the song "Prisluhni mi" in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995. Before Eurovision Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije 1995 Slovenski izbor za pesem Evrovizije 1995 took place on 18 February 1995 ...

'' ("Listen to me") by Primoc Peterca and Saso Fajon. The ballad achieved seventh place: Slovenia's best ever result to the contest. Darja won the 1995 and 1996 Pop Singer of the Year awards in Slovenia. In the following years, she became very active and her second album, ''Moments'', was released in 1998.

Official music videos

* 1995: ''Prisluhni mi'' * 1999: ''Še tisoč let'' / ''For a thousand years'' * 2014: ''Sončen dan'' * 2015: ''En svet''

Eurovision 1999

In 1999, Darja again won Slovene national selection for Eurovision and therefore was selected to represent the country in the

held in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Peterca and Fajon again wrote a ballad for her, entitled '' For A Thousand Years''. The composer stated that he had been inspired by the city of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

during his four-month stay there. Slovene broadcaster RTV had high hopes and indeed the song was in first place at the beginning of the voting: it even got a highest score of 12 points from

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and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. The song finally scored a total of 50 points and was ranked 11th among the 23 entries.

External links