Ilhama Gasimova ( az, İlhamə Qasımova; born 1976, Bala Şürük,

Lankaran Rayon Lankaran District (, tly, Lankon rəyon, script=Latn) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the south-east of the country and belongs to the Lankaran-Astara Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Astara, Le ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

) is an

i pop singer.

Early life

Ilhama Gasimova was born in the village of Bala Şürük and raised in

Lankaran Lankaran ( az, Lənkəran, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, near the southern border with Iran. As of 2021, the city had a population of 89,300. It is next to, but independent of, Lankaran District. The city forms a dis ...

, where she graduated from school. She later obtained a degree in

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

from

Lankaran State University Lankaran State University ( az, Lənkəran Dövlət Universiteti, tly, Lankoni Dovləti Universitet, script=Latn) is a public university located in Lankaran, Azerbaijan. In 1991 it began to operate as a branch of Baku State University Baku Sta ...

and worked as an Azeri language and literature teacher for two years. In 1999 she moved to

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

to defend a Master's dissertation, but problems of adaptation and financial difficulties forced her to abandon her plan and find an office job to make a living.Y. Rzakhanova, I. Asadova
Ilhama Gasimova Still Unaware Who Presented Her with Apartment
. ''Echo''. 24 June 2008. Despite being musically gifted and citing singing as a childhood hobby, Ilhama Gasimova had not chosen to pursue a career in show business partly due to her parents opposing this choice.
''Day.az''. 27 January 2011.

Music career

Ilhama Gasimova had no professional musical training when her coworkers persuaded her to sign up for the ''Baku Autumn'' song contest in 2000, where she won the first prize. Despite this success, Ilhama Gasimova remained sceptical about her possible career as a singer, stating in an interview that she had no financial means for self-promotion. However five years later she was once again persuaded to try herself as a contestant in the fourth season of the Azerbaijani ''Yeni Ulduz'' (2005—2006) song contest, where she competed alongside

Aysel Teymurzadeh Aysel Teymurzadeh ( az, Aysel Məhəmməd qızı Teymurzadə; born 25 April 1989, Baku) is an Azerbaijani pop and R&B singer. She has become well known after singing the song "Always" along with Arash during the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in ...

(who represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest later, in 2009) beating her in the final. This victory marked the beginning of Gasimova's professional singing career. In 2011, she advanced to the final of Azerbaijan's Eurovision 2011 national selection (from the same heat as Eurovision 2011 winner

Nigar Jamal Nigar Aydin qizi Jamal (; az, Nigar Aydın qızı Camal (Mütəllibzadə), ; born 7 September 1980), sometimes known as Nikki Jamal, is an English-Azerbaijani singer. Born and raised in Baku, she has resided in London since 2005. She won the Eur ...

), but lost to the

Ell & Nikki Ell & Nikki, also known as Eldar & Nigar (), are an Azerbaijani pop duo consisting of singers Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal. On 14 May 2011 they won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 for Azerbaijan with their entry " Running Scared". It was the co ...

duo in the final, on 11 February. She then announced her plans to continue her career in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where she later signed a contract with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

. In November 2011, Ilhama Gasimova released her first single '' Bei Mir Bist Du Sheen'' featuring DJ OGB, a modern version of the popular 1932

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

song. The video clip for the song became the sixth most sold on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. She announced her plans to release an album which would include remix versions of the songs from the 1930–50s. In 2012, she won an EMMAward for best video (''Bei Mir Bist Du Sheen''). In January–February 2012, Ilhama Gasimova went on her first big tour and gave concerts in cities around

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, including

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

and

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

Personal life

In 1993 (when she was age 17), Ilhama Gasimova had an

arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...

with a man who "loved her very much" but "belonged to a world different from hers." Gasimova soon ended this marriage, in part because she was unwilling to be "confined to a life as a housewife." Since 2009, she has been living with a

common-law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

partner, 14 years her senior.Sabina Aliyeva
Stars' Personal Life and Four-Legged Friends
. ''Zerkalo''. 2 July 2011.

References

External links

* http://lady.day.az/news/career/453671.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Gasimova, Ilhama 1976 births Living people People from Lankaran District 21st-century Azerbaijani women singers