Venera Lumani (born 16 June 1991) is an Albanian singer. She rose to fame after winning the second season of ''

The Voice of Albania ''The Voice of Albania'' is an Albanian television reality singing competition created by John de Mol and is part of ''The Voice'' franchise. It began airing on Top Channel on October 21, 2011 and ended after six seasons on May 19, 2017. Top C ...

''. She has participated in various music festivals in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, such as

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. She currently lives 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 ...

, Albania.

Life and career

Early life and career

Venera Lumani was born on June 16, 1991, in Radolista, a village based in Struga Municipality in southwestern

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

. Her father was a musician but he didn't pursue his music career. She studied at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Sk ...

. Lumani began her singing career by participating in the second season of Star Academy Albania in 2007, where she reached the final. Prior to her national breakthrough in the Albanian music industry, Lumani had attempted to represent Macedonia at the

2009 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song " Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

by competing in the national selection Skopje Fest 2009 with the song "Povtorno ljubena". However, she failed to advance from the semi-final rounds of the competition.

2012: ''The Voice of Albania''

In 2012, she entered the Albanian series of ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'' and successfully passed the preliminary stages. At her blind audition, she sang "

Lullaby of Birdland "Lullaby of Birdland" is a jazz standard and popular song composed by George Shearing with lyrics by George David Weiss (under the pseudonym "B. Y. Forster"). Background George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland" in 1952 for Morris Levy, the ...

" and received a great feedback from the four judges who all turned their chairs to have Lumani in their team; she decided to join Sidrit Bejleri's team. She managed to qualify through all the other phases, and was eventually announced as the winner of the show.

2013–14: ''Top Fest'' and ''Festivali i Këngës''

In 2013, Lumani competed in the 52nd edition of

, which selected the Albanian entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

. She performed the song "Natë e parë" together with Lindi Islami, finishing in fourth place. In 2014, Venera Lumani returned to the 53rd edition of Festivali i Këngës, with "Dua të jetoj". She advanced to the final and finished 9th out of 18. In early 2014, Venera participated in the eleventh edition of

with "Mos më numëro", and passed the preliminary and semifinal stage of the contest. In the final she won the ''Best Ballad'' award, and the song gained positive feedback from the public.

Discography

* 2008: ''Dua të të dua'' * 2010: ''Vargje për të dy'' (ft. Guximtar Rushani) * 2013: ''Natë e parë'' (ft. Lind Islami) * 2014: ''Mos më numëro'' * 2014: ''E doja'' * 2014: ''Dua të jetoj'' * 2015: ''Love'' * 2015: ''16 qershori'' * 2015: ''Zemër në katror'' (ft. Lind Islami) * 2016: ''Siento amor'' (ft. Lind Islami) * 2017: ''Venus'' * 2017: ''Don't Stop Me Now'' (ft. DJ Sardi) * 2018: ''Betohem'' (ft. Lind Islami)

Awards and nominations

, - , , 2012 , , "Herself" , First Prize ,

, - , , 2014 , , "Mos më numëro" , Best Ballad ,

, - , , 2015 , , "Zemër në katror" (ft. Lind Islami) , Best New Artist ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lumani, Venera 1991 births Living people People from Struga 21st-century Albanian women singers The Voice (franchise) winners Macedonian musicians of Albanian descent