Nigar "Nikki" Aydin qizi Jamal (, ; born 7 September 1980) is an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

i singer. Born and raised in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, she has resided in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

since 2005. She won 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 ...

with

Eldar Gasimov Eldar "Ell" Parviz oglu Gasimov (, ; born 4 June 1989) is an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani singer. He Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 alongside Nigar Jamal, winning the compe ...

with the song " Running Scared". She and Gasimov have since performed as a duo on various occasions under the name Ell & Nikki.

Early life

Jamal was born as Nigar Mutallibzadeh in

on 7 September 1980. In 1997, she entered

Khazar University Khazar University (, which directly translates as Caspian University) is a private university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Campuses Khazar University owns four campuses in the city of Baku and two campuses in regions of Azerbaijan. Xəzər U ...

, majoring in economics and management, finishing 3 out of 4 years. Before trying herself as a singer, Nigar Jamal had been a housewife for five years.Ross McGuinness
Eurovision Winner Nigar Jamal Revealed as Spurs Fan Living in London
. Metro. 15 May 2011. Jamal says she is inspired by the likes of

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

Brandy Norwood Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, model and actress. Born into a musical family in McComb, Mississippi, Norwood was raised in Carson, California, beginning her career as a backing vocalist ...

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is an English singer. He rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single " Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, '' Born to Do It'', was released in 2000, to great commercial success. In to ...

and

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

Career

Eurovision Song Contest 2011

In December 2010, Jamal took part in the Azerbaijani national selection, '' Milli Seçim Turu 2011''. Her first appearance was in Heat 7, placing joint first with 11 points, along with Ilhama Gasimova, both qualifying to the semi-final. Jamal qualified from the semi-final along with four other artists to the final on 11 February 2011, where she and

won the right to represent Azerbaijan at the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in May 2011. They sang under the pseudonym

Ell & Nikki An ell (from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European Units of measurement, unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and ext ...

the song " Running Scared" written by Stefan Örn and Sandra Bjurman from Sweden and Iain Farquharson from the UK, which won with a total of 221 points.

2011–present: After Eurovision

After winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Jamal and Gasimov got to travel to a number of countries and perform their winning entry. In Azerbaijan 15,000 postage stamps in the denomination of 1

Azerbaijani manat The manat (ISO 4217, ISO code: AZN; Currency symbol, sign: ₼; abbreviation: m) is the currency of Azerbaijan. It is subdivided into 100 ''gapiks''. The first iteration of the currency emerged in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and its succ ...

were printed. The production of postage stamps in Azerbaijan were in dedication of Eldar and Nigar's victory at the 2011 contest. In September 2011 it was announced that Nigar would appear in an episode of the

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

series ''

Yahşi Cazibe ''Yahşi Cazibe'' is a Turkish comedy series. Cazibe, an Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani immigrant, marries Kemal to become a Turkey, Turkish citizen. "Ms. Gül" who deals with illegal marriages arranges this marriage which will last for 3 years a ...

''. In 2012, she was among five musicians from Azerbaijan chosen as the jury in the Danish national selection for their 2012 Eurovision contestant. On 1 December 2011 Nikki presented her first post-Eurovision solo song and video clip ''"Crush on You"''. Other new material was released afterwards, including a duet with Miri Yusif entitled ''"Qal"'' ("Stay"); and another duet with

Eurovision 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Unio ...

winner

Dima Bilan Dima Nikolayevich Bilan (, ; born Viktor Nikolayevich Belan [] on 24 December 1981) is a Russian singer. In 2002, Bilan participated in the first edition of New Wave. At the end of the contest, he finished in fourth place. He represented Russ ...

entitled ''"Come Into My World"''. On 11 August 2012, she released her debut album entitled ''"Play With Me"''. She has reportedly worked with Danish songwriter Boe Larsen for the album. In early 2014, she was a judge in the Turkish television show ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' and produced the winner of the show.

Discography

Albums

* 2014: ''Play With Me''

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jamal, Nigar 1980 births Living people 21st-century Azerbaijani women singers Azerbaijani emigrants to England English-language singers from Azerbaijan Khazar University alumni Musicians from Baku Eurovision Song Contest entrants