Wassabi were a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n musical girl group established in 2006 under the management of

Marius Moga Marius Moga () is a Romanian singer, songwriter, producer and television personality. He writes and produces music in various styles and genres, especially pop, R&B and club music. In 2011, he became the judge and mentor of the reality singing sho ...

, who also wrote many of their songs. The band was made up of Laura Petrescu,

Veronica Tecaru Veronica Alexandra Tecaru (born January 14, 1984), known by her stage name Veronika, is a Romanian singer. Born in Galați, Tecaru turned to singing after giving up a career as a basketball player. She began her music career in Bucharest as a me ...

, Ramona Sora, and Luisa Luca.

Career

The group launched its series of hits with the album ''Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine''. The album contained "Have Some Fun with Radio 21" that was used as the signature song for the Romanian radio station

Radio 21 Virgin Radio Romania is a Romanian national radio station with coverage in almost all the cities of the country. Virgin Radio started broadcasting in Romania on 9 January 2017. Virgin Radio Romania is part of a media group that also operates ...

. The band also released the title song from the album "Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine" as well as "Lonely Girl". Their biggest hit was "Don't Go Baby" written by Marius Moga. The band also took part in

Selecţia Naţională Eurovision 2007 Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest, Romania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland. They selected their entry, "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" by Romanian group Todomondo through the national selection competition ' ...

to represent Romania in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

. The song was "Do the Tango with Me". Wassabi also presented another song "Crazy" in collaboration with band Morandi, but the song was withdrawn prior to the final to allow better chances for "Do the Tango with Me".

After the split-up

The band continued until 2009 when Laura Petrescu announced she was leaving the band. The band disbanded soon after, although Lora came back to be reconciled with her bandmates in 2011.

Lora

Laura Petrescu known by her

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

Lora (born in

Vaslui Vaslui (), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu, and Viișoara. History Archaeological surveys indicate ...

on 23 July 1982) became a very famous solo singer. She took part in 2010 in collaboration with

Sonny Flame Mihai Răzvan Preda
(in Romanian) (; born in

Selecţia Naţională 2010 with the song "Come Along". The song came 7th overall despite its great popularity. Lora has collaborated with many acts including Sensor in the open concert in Bucharest. with Phelipe in "Hot Spot" and in 2010 with Adrian Sîna of the band

Akcent Akcent () is a Romanian dance pop group whose members sing in Romanian, English and Spanish. Their name originated as a wordplay on ''accent''. The group was created by Adrian Sînă, and Ramona Barta. Their first single "" ("I don't care about ...

in "My Passion" with great success in Romania and internationally. The music video featured models Ana Stefanescu and Silviu Tolu. Lora released the song "No More Tears" with the help of Adrian Sîna also with an accompanying music video in 2011. Her song "Fall in Love Tonight" has also found international success.

Minelli

Luisa Ionela Luca, known professionally as Minelli, is a Romanian

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

. Minelli is appreciated in Romania as a composer and lyricist, but her international fame as a soloist was ensured by singles such as "Mariola" (2019) and "

Rampampam "Rampampam" is a song by Romanian singer and songwriter Minelli, released for digital download and streaming by Global Records on 18 March 2021 as a single. A house track, it was written by Minelli and produced by Viky Red. Lyrically, Minell ...

" (2021). As a songwriter and lyricist, Minelli's repertoire contains hit songs such as "Inimi de ceară" (2017) performed by Andra, "Touch Me" (2019) performed by

Antonia Antonia may refer to: People * Antonia (name), including a list of people with the name * Antonia gens, a Roman family, any woman of the gens was named ''Antonia'' * Antônia (footballer) * Antônia Melo Entertainment * ''Antonia's Line'', or ...

or " Flashbacks" (2021) performed by

Inna Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (born 16 October 1986), known professionally as Inna (stylized in all caps), is a Romanian singer. Born in Mangalia and raised in Neptun, she studied political science at Ovidius University before meeting the Roma ...

Discography

Albums

*''Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine''

Singles

(For solo singles releases by Lora, see discography on

Lora (singer) Laura Petrescu, better known as Lora (born in Vaslui, Romania on 23 July 1982) is a Romanian pop singer, model, judge on ''The Next Star'' show, and TV personality. Before her solo career, she was part of the Romanian band Wassabi. Beginnings Lor ...

page) *"Have Some Fun with Radio 21" *"Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine" *"Lonely Girl" *"Don't Go Baby" *"Do the Tango with Me"

*"Crazy ( Morandi and Wassabi)

(withdrawn prior to final)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wassabi Romanian musical groups