Elena Gheorghe

Elena Gheorghe (born 30 July 1985; Romanian pronunciation: [eˈle.na ˈɡe̯orɡe]) is a Romanian singer. In the first half of the 2000s, she joined the Romanian pop group Mandinga, with whom she released two albums with. In 2006 she separated from the group and pursued her solo career. She has released three studio albums and one compilation album. She scored a top ten in the Romanian Top 100 with the debut single "Vocea Ta".

Elena Gheorghe
Gheorghe attending a meeting in Moscow after the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 semi-final.
Background information
Birth nameElena Gheorghe
Born (1985-07-30) 30 July 1985
OriginBucharest, Romania
GenresPop, dance, house
Occupation(s)Singer
InstrumentsVocals
LabelsCat Music, Major, Roton
Associated actsMandinga, Laurentiu Duta, Dony
Websiteelenagheorghe.ro

Early life and career beginnings

Gheorghe was born in Bucharest to the family of an Aromanian priest, Gheorghe Gheorghe. Many of her ancestors were Orthodox priests. She has a sister, Ana, who is a journalist and a brother, Costin, plays football for Sportul Studenţesc. Her mother, Mărioara Gheorghe is a folk artist. Gheorghe debuted on the folk music scene with her when just three years of age with the song Sus în Deal în Poieniţă. At age 11 she joined the Children's National Palace where she took singing lessons. In 2000 she won the gold trophy Little Bear (in Baia Mare) with One Moment In Time by Whitney Houston. In 2001 she participated in the Mamaia Festival.

Gheorghe is of both Romanian and Aromanian background.[1][2]

Career

2002 – 2005: Career as part of Mandinga

Gheorghe started singing with Mandinga, a very successful band in the Latino genre in early 2003. In June that year, Mandinga released their first album – ...De Corazón. Mandinga was placed 4th in the Romanian National Eurovision Selection in March 2005 with the song My Sun which was awarded a golden disc one year later. In January 2006, she opened her own dance school called Passitos and a month later ended the collaboration with Mandinga, starting her solo career with the help of musical producer Laurenţiu Duţă.

2006 – 2008: Solo career beginnings

In June 2006 Gheorghe released her first solo album, entitled Your Voice. In March 2007 Gheorghe won the prize Radio România Actualitaţi for best performing act in 2006 and was nominated for the Best Song of 2006 section with the song Your Voice. In August 2007 at the Romanian Top Hit Music Awards, Gheorghe won the award for Best Song of 2007, with the song Your Brown Eyes. Some of her songs are sung in Aromanian language as Ma ţi s-adar, Lilicea Vreariei, and others.[3] In 2007, she released her second solo album Te Ador, with the title track becoming a hit as well.

2009: Eurovision Song Contest

In late 2008, songwriter Laurenţiu Duţă offered Gheorghe a song to submit in the Romanian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Around 31 December 2008 it was announced that Gheorghe was one of 24 semi-finalists. She competed in the semi-final and then passed to the National Final on 31 January 2009. There she came second after televoting but the jury helped her win the selection thus representing Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "The Balkan Girls". She started a promo tour all over Europe from February to May.

The song was performed in the second half of the first semi-final on 12 May in Moscow, where it came ninth with 67 points. She proceeded to the Grand Final on 16 May. There she performed the 22nd song of the evening and Gheorghe presented a concept show about wooden fairies called Iele in Romania. She came 19th that night gaining 40 points, including 12 points from Moldova, seven from Spain, and five from Turkey and Macedonia, etc.[4]

2010 – 2012: European recognition & Disco Romancing

After Eurovision she became more famous Europe-wide and released her single "Disco Romancing" which was a smash hit in Romania as well as a top-ten in Hungary and a mild success in Czech Republic, Netherlands, Poland or Slovakia. The following single "Midnight Sun" was a top-ten success in the Dutch Top 40 and in the Romanian Top 100. In 2011 she collaborated with Dony and released the single "Hot Girls" which once again charted throughout Europe. The same year she had her first European tour, getting to Germany, Spain and Greece. Gheorghe's album "Disco Romancing" had a limited release in 2012, in Spain and Japan. The album spawned 3 more singles "Your Captain Tonight", "Amar Tu Vida" and "Hypnotic".

2013 – Present

In 2016 Disney Enterprises and Walt Disney Romania chose the artist to be part of an animated TV Series produced by Disney, and she sings the main theme from Elena of Avalor.[5]

Discography

Studio albums

As part of Mandinga
  • 2003: ...de corazôn
  • 2005: Soarele Meu

Compilations
  • 2008: Lilicea Vreariei
    (Elena Gheorghe & Gica Coada)

Singles
Song Year Peak chart positions Album
AUT
[6]		 GER
[7]		 HUN
[8]		 CZR
[9]		 UKR
[10]		 ROM
[11]		 NLD
 UK
[12]		 SVK
[13]		 SPA
"Vocea Ta" 2006 —————8———— Vocea Ta
"Ochii Tăi Căprui" 2007 —————21————
"Te Ador" 2008 —————————— Te Ador
"Până La Stele" ——————————
"The Balkan Girls" 2009 ————381—172——
"Disco Romancing" 2010 ——312—15919924— Disco Romancing
"Midnight Sun" —————521—61—
"Hot Girls"
(with Dony)		 2011 7191———30——36—
"Your Captain Tonight" —————9495———
"Amar Tu Vida" 2012 —————47————
"Hypnotic" ——————————
"Ecou"
(featuring Glance)		 2013 —————1———— TBA
"Mamma Mia (He's Italiano)"
(featuring Glance)		 2014 ——————————
"Senor Loco"
(featuring Danny Mazo)		 2015 ——————————
"Autograf" ——————————
"—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory.

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2009-03-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-05-22. Retrieved 2009-05-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Steffen Hung. "Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  4. "Eurovision Song Contest - Malmö 2013". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  5. https://myzutv.ro/news/video-frumi-elena-gheorghe-se-transforma-in-elena-din-avalor-id27706.html
  6. Steffen Hung. "Elena & Dony - Hot Girls". Austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  7. Steffen Hung. "germancharts.com - Elena & Dony - Hot Girls". Germancharts.de. Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  8. "MAHASZ - Magyar Hangfelvétel-kiadók Szövetsége Közös Jogkezelő Egyesület - slágerlisták, hírek, jogok, jodíjak". mahasz.hu. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  9. "IFPI - Národní federace hudebního průmyslu". ifpicr.cz. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  10. "ФДР - FDR.COM.UA". fdr.com.ua. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  11. "Kiss FM Live - Asculti doar HITURI". kissfm.ro. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  12. "Official Charts - Homepage". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  13. "IFPI - Národní federace hudebního průmyslu". ifpi.sk. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
Preceded by
Nico and Vlad
with "Pe-o margine de lume"		 Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
2009		 Succeeded by
Paula Seling and Ovi
with "Playing with Fire"
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