Eugent Bushpepa (; born 2 July 1984), also known by his alternative name Gent Bushpepa, is an Albanian singer, songwriter and composer. Regarded as one of the most popular

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

musicians in the Albanian-speaking world, he is noted for his

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of st ...

, vocal power, high-energy live performances, and is also recognised as an accomplished guitarist. Bushpepa and his band were the supporting acts on the

concert tours A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

of Deep Purple in 2007,

Duff Mckagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...

( Guns N' Roses) in 2011 and Overkill in 2014. On 18 August 2013, he performed a full concert with

Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal Ronald Jay Blumenthal (born September 25, 1969), better known by his stage name Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal or just simply as Bumblefoot, is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. He adopted his nickname from the bacterial infection of the s ...

. Bushpepa is the sole author of his song which was reworked for the Eurovision by Jim Lowe, a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

-winning British record producer and audio engineer. In 2017, Bushpepa won the 56th edition of

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 deter ...

with the song "

Mall Mall commonly refers to a: * Shopping mall * Strip mall * Pedestrian street * Esplanade Mall or MALL may also refer to: Places Shopping complexes * The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria * The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India ...

" and went on to represent Albania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2018 The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the with the song " Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European ...

in Lisbon. He reached eleventh place in the grand final in a field of twenty-six and achieved the country's third highest placement to date.

Life and career

Eugent Bushpepa was born on 2 July 1984 into an Albanian family of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

faith in the town of

Rrëshen Rrëshen ( sq-definite, Rrësheni) is a small town and a former municipality in Lezhë County, in northern Albania. History At the 2015 local government reform, Rrëshen became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Mirditë. It was the ...

, then part of the People's Republic of Albania, present

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 ...

. He started singing at the age of six while his guitar training began in the fifth grade of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. After finishing high school, he moved to

Bologna, Italy Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, to study medicine where he completed his first academic year. Bushpepa's professional career began in 2006 and since then he has been active in the Albanian music scene. His national breakthrough came with the song "Maska e Madhështisë", released in 2007 at

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 ...

4. In the same competition, he also teamed up with a rock band called Sunrise, performing their song ''Engjëll'', and then he went on to play in major music festivals and worked on new music. Although Eugent made his professional stage debut in

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 ...

at the age of fourteen, his music career was jump-started upon his return to Albania in 2006 where he was set to pursue a

medical degree A medical degree is a professional degree admitted to those who have passed coursework in the fields of medicine and/or surgery from an accredited medical school. Obtaining a degree in medicine allows for the recipient to continue on into special ...

in dentistry and started to perform live shows in various night clubs and pubs alongside studies. Writing and performing his own material, Bushpepa had also made various live covers and appeared in over 2000 live shows since his beginnings. He was asked to become the supporting act for

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...

for a concert in Tirana on their Loaded band tour on 1 June 2011. During a traditional beer festival in

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau som ...

on 18 August 2013, Bushpepa performed with

, the guitarist of Guns N' Roses. In 2014, he joined the band Darkology as their tour vocalist., replacing Kelly Sundown Carpenter in their Killfest tour with Overkill, Prong, and Enforcer who performed in various cities in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. In early to mid 2017, Bushpepa had signed on as an adviser in

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 ...

, assisting Besa's team, whereas on 24 December 2017, he won the 56th edition of

, the longest-running annual televised music competition in Albania since 1962, and thus represented Albania at the

in Lisbon, Portugal with his song "

In December 2017,

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; en, "Albanian Radio and Television"; mostly called RTSH ) is an Albanian public broadcasting radio and television company. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmi ...

(RTSH) announced him as the Albanian representative for the

in Lisbon, Portugal, after he won the 56th edition of

with his song "

". The Eurovision version was reworked by Bushpepa and Jim Lowe, a Grammy Award-winning audio engineer, and was released through Universal Music on 16 April. Bushpepa's promotional tour in London and Tel Aviv were postponed due to visa delays, but he resumed the tour in Amsterdam and Madrid that advanced with great success. Albania was drawn to compete third at the first-semi final in which Bushpepa performed "Mall" third in a field of nineteen participants and qualified for the Grand Final being among the top ten most-voted acts. In the final, the song was performed twelfth in a field of twenty-six and ranked seventh with the juries and eleventh with a combined televote score.

Discography

Bushpepa has released no album to date; though he deems himself as a "non-commercial artist" and stated that he is working on his debut album following requests from his fans.

Singles

As lead artist

Awards

, - , rowspan="1", 2008 , rowspan="1", "Ëndërr reale" , Best Male Singer , , - , rowspan="1", 2009 , rowspan="1", "Stinë dreqi" , Vodafone Club Award , , - , rowspan="1", 2011 , rowspan="1", "Rebel pa hije" , Best Male Singer , , - , rowspan="1", 2015 , rowspan="1", "Pranë finishit" , Honorific Award ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bushpepa, Eugent 1984 births 21st-century Albanian male singers Albanian composers Albanian guitarists Albanian operatic tenors Albanian rock singers Albanian Roman Catholics Albanian songwriters Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Albania Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2018 Festivali i Këngës winners Living people People from Rrëshen