Ilira Gashi (; born 29 October 1994), known professionally as Ilira, is a Swiss singer and songwriter. In 2018, she signed to

Four Music Four Music (''Four Music Productions GmbH'') is a German record label founded by hip hop group Die Fantastischen Vier in 1996. It was originally located in Stuttgart, but has moved to Kreuzberg, Berlin. In 2004, Max Herre's debut album, as wel ...

and released her debut single "Whisper My Name".

Early life

Ilira Gashi was born on 29 October 1994 in Brienz, Switzerland, to a

Kosovo Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...

father from

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...

, Kosovo and an Albanian mother from

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 ...

, Albania. She uploaded videos of herself singing on Instagram, which led to a record label deal.

Career

In 2011, Ilira and her band ''The Colors'' competed in the Swiss show ''

Die grosse Entscheidungs Show Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicond ...

'', the pre-selection show for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

. Their song "Home" came in third. Ilira later moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany and signed a management and publishing deal with

Sony/ATV Music Publishing Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...

. In 2018, Ilira signed a label deal with

, and released her debut track "Whisper My Name" on 24 August 2018, followed by her second single "Get Off My D!ck" that same year which entered the Spotify Viral Top 50 in the U.S. Her first chart placement was achieved together with

Alle Farben Frans Zimmer (born 5 June 1985), better known by his stage name Alle Farben (meaning ''All Colours'' in German) is a German DJ and producer. Since 2014 Zimmer is signed to the record label Guesstimate/b1 Recordings and the publishing house Budde ...

and the song "Fading", which reached number 16 on the German Single Charts and number 1 on the German Airplay Charts for four consecutive weeks. In 2019, Ilira released four singles, "Do It Yourself", "Diablo" (with Spanish producer and recording artist

Juan Magán Juan Manuel Magán González (born 30 September 1978) is a Spanish producer, singer, remixer and DJ of electronic dance music, recognized internationally for his contributions to the "Electro Latino" category of music. As a remixer, he has worke ...

), "Pay Me Back!", and "Extra Fr!es". In 2020, she released the singles "Royalty", "Fuck It, I Love It!", "Ladida (My Heart Goes Boom)" (together with Crispie), "Easy", and "Eat My Brain". On December 14, 2021 Ilira announced that she had signed a joint deal with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

and

Universal Music Group 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 ...

. She released the single "Flowers" on December 17, 2021 as her first solo single of 2021, and her first single under Virgin Records. In 2022, she released the single "Another Heart".

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Notes

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilira 1994 births 21st-century Swiss women singers Living people People from Brienz Swiss people of Albanian descent Swiss people of Kosovan descent Swiss songwriters