Elhaida Dani (; born 17 February 1993) is an Albanian singer, songwriter, composer and actress. Born and raised in Shkodër, 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 Top Fest was an Albanian music competition organised by Top Channel. It began airing in 2004 with its last edition being in 2015. The event was annually held in Tirana, Albania. The songs were usually performed in Albanian with artists from Albani ...

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. Th ...

''. 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 Kënga Magjike (; ) is an annual music competition organised by the Albanian television broadcaster Televizioni Klan. The music competition has been broadcasting annually since its inauguration in 1999 with the exception of 2020. The first ed ...

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 primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

upon her international acting debut in the world renowned musical of .

Life and career

1993–2012: Early life and career beginnings

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

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

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

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and 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 overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

. Dani started her initial forays into the music industry in 2009 as she won a multitude of music festivals, including Star Academy, Sunčane Skale, 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" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerb ...

, following her unsuccessful participation at the 50th edition of

Festivali i Këngës Festivali i Këngës (; ), also referred to as simply FiK, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, it has also determ ...

with the song "Mijëra vjet". In June 2012, she was chosen as the winner of the ninth edition of

with the song "S'je më".

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

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

singing "

Mamma Knows Best "Mamma Knows Best" is a song by English singer-songwriter Jessie J, from her debut studio album '' Who You Are''. It was written and produced by Jessie J (credited Jessica Cornish) and Ashton Thomas, and peaked at number 59 on the UK Singles Cha ...

" for judges

Piero Pelù Pietro "Piero" Pelù (born 10 February 1962) is an Italian singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the Italian band Litfiba. He was born in Florence. In July 1999, Pelù quit Litfiba. In 2000, he released his first solo album ''N ...

Raffaella Carrà Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), better known as Raffaella Carrà (), was an Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, actress and model. She was well known in Europe and Latin America as a result of her man ...

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the U.S. as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian singer, composer, theatre man and musician. He acquired French citizenship. Personal life Cocciante was ...

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 just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. In October 2014, the broadcaster,

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; en, "Albanian Radio and Television"; mostly called RTSH ) is an Albanian public broadcasting radio and television company. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmi ...

(RTSH), announced Dani as one of the contestants selected to compete in the 53rd edition of

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 (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") 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. S ...

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, OC, CQ (b. March 2, 1942 in Saint-Raymond, Quebec), is a French-Canadian lyricist and music executive. He is best known for his work on the musicals ''Starmania'' and ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He is the brother of Louis Plamondo ...

to play the role of Esmeralda in the world renown musical ''

Notre Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

''. And since 2016 she is touring worldwide. In December she competed in

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.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

Other charted songs

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dani, Elhaida 1993 births 21st-century Albanian women singers 21st-century Italian women singers Albanian emigrants to Italy Albanian-language singers Albanian Muslims Albanian pianists Albanian songwriters Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Albania Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2015 Festivali i Këngës winners Living people Musicians from Shkodër The Voice (franchise) winners 21st-century women pianists