Elvana Gjata

Elvana Gjata was born on February 3, 1987 in Tirana, Albania.

Elvana started working professionally since 2005 after participating in various festivals and releasing her own music. She debuted her first single called “Te kam xhan” in “Kenga Magjike” Festival. The following year, Gjata was invited to work with Tingulli 3nt. They released “Te Dy”. The same year she released her best-selling single to date, “Mames” which became an instant hit. That same year she also released “Prane teje” and “Zjarri qe ti ndez”.

She won her first Videofest Awards in 2007 – she won Best R‘n‘B Video with “Mames”, and during that year she released her first album, entitled “Mames”. Gjata also decided to take part in “Kenga Magjike” again with “Ku jeton dashuria ime”. She advanced to the final round and ended third, behind winner Aurela Gace and future collaborator Flori Mumajesi featuring Soni Malaj. The song still remains a very popular ballad in Albania.

In 2008, she mainly focused on her album and she released “Vetes” which became a very popular single. The album was later released with the same name.

During 2009, Elvana collaborated with different artists from Albania and Kosovo and was one of the most active singers that year. She released “Nuk jane me”, “Hitech”, “Turn U On” (which was nominated for Best Albanian Song that year at the Balkan Music Awards) and “Dhe Zemra Ndal”.

The following year, she released two summer songs, both becoming hits. She first released “A Ke Ti Zemer” and “Mamani Nejen” with the rapper Fugaa. They performed the song in Sofia, Bulgaria at the 2010 Balkan Music Awards. The song was also nominated for Best Albanian Song of the Year.

She entered the eighth edition of “Top Fest” with “Me Ty”, a pop ballad which received positive feedback from the audience and music critics. Elvana used “Top Fest” also to promote her album. After her first appearance, she became the favorite artist to win and received a lot of media attention. On June 2011, Gjata was declared the winner.

Soon after her win, she released her third album “Afer dhe Larg” in early 2011. The album contained singles, including “Me Ty” and other recent hits such as “Capoten” and the titular single “Afer dhe Larg”, as well as singles that were released between 2009 and 2010, and brand new singles recorded especially for the new album.

In 2012, Elvana Gjata’s song “Afer dhe Larg” won at the Balkan Music Awards for Best Albanian Song of the Year and Best Music Video of the Year.

Gjata only released one single that year. The single, called “Gjaku im”, which was accompanied with a music video, was made in order to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Independence of Albania. During this year, she appeared in many Albanian adverts.

Gjata had mentioned in an interview that dancing was her second passion. She was asked to enter the third season of “Dancing With the Stars”. She was the fan-favourite to win the show from the beginning. In the grand finale, she was declared the winner of the series.

In early 2013, Gjata recorded five acoustic live sessions called: “Si une”, “Pak nga Pak”, “As Ti”, “Mengjesi i Kesaj Here” and “Anonim”.

During the year, Gjata released four new singles: “Fake”, “Fake (Remix)”, “Beso” and “1990”. The song “Fake” reached a lot of success on social media and was called “Top Dance Track” on Deezer beating famous artists such as David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia and many others. It also reached No. 12 on Deezer’s top tracks beating Jennifer Lopez, Emeli Sande and Rihanna. She released a remix of the song later, in a collaboration with Flori Mumajesi, KAOS and P.I.N.T.

Elvana Gjata was nominated for four awards at the Videofest Awards for her single “Beso” with 2Po2, in which she took home two awards, including Best R’n’B Music Video and Best Duet.

In early 2014, Gjata released her single “Disco Disco” which reached number one on MyMusic TV’s charts and was one of the most successful Albanian songs of 2014. It was later nominated for two awards at Videofest.

In the summer of 2014, Vardenafil released another single called “Puthe”. The single was a commercial success in Albania and many social media users paid tribute to the single.

In 2015 she released the song “Kuq e zi” in a collaboration with Flori Mumajes which was the anthem of the Albanian national football team. The same year she release also and other collaboration “Love Me” with Bruno which also became very popular.

In 2016 she rereleased two singles – “Njesoj” and after that “Lejla” in a collaboration with Capital T and 2po2. The song became a smash hit and generated millions of views in YouTube.

The next year she released a single in English – “Forever Is Over” produced by the famous David Guetta.

In 2018 Elvana Gjata is quite active releasing different singles. She started with “Off Guard” with the featuring of the famous American rapper Ty Dolla $ign. After that project she released a single in her native Albanian language titled “Ku vajti”. Later she presented “Mike” – in a collaboration with the popular singer Ledri Vula and John Shahu.