Maraaya are a Slovenian duo founded by Marjetka Vovk and Aleš Vovk (Raay) in 2014. The group's name is a combination of its members' names, while its pronunciation means "She has Raay" in Slovene. Raay is credited as co-writer and producer for many Slovenian artists. He is credited as the composer on Slovenia's 2014 Eurovision song " Round and Round", and they both contributed to Slovenia's 2014 Junior Eurovision song with "

Nisi sam (Your Light) Slovenia selected their first Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014 entry through an internal selection. On 16 September 2014 it was revealed that Ula Ložar would represent Slovenia after having open auditions. Before Junior Eurovision Internal s ...

" and 2015 Junior Eurovision song with "Prva ljubezen" (The First Love). In 2013 Raay co-wrote and produced the music for " My Way Is My Decision", a hit song performed by Slovenian alpine skier

Tina Maze Tina Maze (; born 2 May 1983) is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer. Career Maze is the most successful Slovenian ski racer in history with a career that culminated with two gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She was awarded t ...

. Raay co-wrote, produced and recorded first two singles (" Muza" and " Heart of Gold") for BQL, a Slovenian brothers duo. In September 2017 they signed a contract with

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

and became the first Slovenian artists to sign with Warner Music. After BQL, they are the second Slovenian artist to reach the top position on the national official singles charts

SloTop50 SloTop50 is the official Slovenian singles chart provider established by SAZAS (The association of composers and authors for protection of copyright of Slovenia) in 2013. It presents weekly, monthly and yearly singles charts, following 61 vari ...

, with at least two singles: " Here for You" and " Diamond Duck".

Career

2014: First single

The duo of producer Raay (real name: Aleš Vovk) and vocalist Marjetka Vovk (née Jurkovnik), both previously members of the turbo-folk group

Turbo Angels Turbo Angels are a Slovenian turbo-folk quartet. Menart Records published their premier single, ''Naj se dviga'', in 2005, and their debut album, ''Mi smo za…'', in June 2006. Dejan Bojanec replaced Dejan Gorenjec Raj as the band's diatonic ...

, was formed in 2014 when they released their first single "

Lovin' Me "Lovin' Me" is a song by Slovene duo Maraaya. It was written by Raay, Marjetka Vovk and Charlie Mason. This is their first single released on 28 April 2014 by Bip Records and Dance and Love. Background iTunes In 2014 when they released th ...

". This song was among the top 20 most selling singles in Italy and a big success at

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 ...

music charts in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

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 ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

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 ...

. It was also listed on the Polish "Bravo Hits Zima 2015" compilation. This song was among the top ten selling singles in Italy and was ranked at 34th place in the German DJ's Dance Top 100 singles chart. "Lovin' Me" charted in many countries' official singles charts: it was ranked in 13th place in the Slovenian

chart, in 52nd in the Italian

FIMI The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when major corporate labels left the previously exist ...

chart and in 83rd in the Belgian (

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

) Ultratip 100 chart.

2015: Eurovision

They represented

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 their second single " Here for You". They performed in the second semi final where the song gathered 92 points and earned 5th place. In the grand final the song received 39 points and came 14th. Like "Lovin' Me", "Here For You" charted in many countries' official singles charts: it topped the Slovenian SloTop50 chart, it charted at 23rd in the Austrian

Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Tuesdays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as ...

chart, at 24th in the Slovakian Rádio Top 100 chart, at 48th in the Belgian (

) Ultratip 100 chart, at 10th in the Swedish Sverigetopplistan Heatseekers chart and at 18th in the Finnish Suomen virallinen lista digital chart. This song also topped the German Hitfire singles chart. In September 2015 they presented and released their third single "

Living Again "Living Again" is a song by Slovene duo Maraaya. This is their third single released on 19 September 2015 at Red Cross live charity concert in Cankar Hall, Ljubljana. Credits and personnel * Raay – music, producer * Marjetka Vovk � ...

" at the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

live charity concert in

Cankar Hall The Cankar Centre or Cankar Hall ( sl, Cankarjev dom) is the largest Slovenian convention, congress and culture center. The building was designed by the architect Edvard Ravnikar and was built at the southern edge of Republic Square in Ljubljana b ...

, Ljubljana. It charted at 12th place in the official Slovenian singles SloTop50 chart, without any international success.

2016: Fourth single

They presented and released their fourth single " Nothing Left for Me" as special guests at the Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. It charted at 18th place in the official Slovenian singles SloTop50 chart, without any international success.

2017: Fifth single ft. BQL

On 26 May 2017, Maraaya featuring BQL premiered their fifth single " It's Complicated" and the video for the song at the same time on Cankar Street in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

. This single was officially released on 7 June 2017 and a Croatian version was released two days later. On 22 September 2017, Maraaya released their sixth single " Diamond Duck" for the worldwide market with help of Warner Music. In Slovenia, the song was officially released on 2 October 2017. The song made its SloTop50 debut and peaked the chart immediately.

Discography

Personal life

Raay and Marjetka are a married couple and have two sons, named Vid and Oskar. They have a private music school searching for and teaching young talented singers and musicians.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Slovenia Slovenian pop music groups Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2015 Slovenian songwriters