Biography
Elena Gheorghe (born July 30, 1985, Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian pop-dance and Latin singer, of Aromanian origin on her father's side. Born and raised in Bucharest, Elena debuted on the popular music scene at the age of three, singing a duet with her mother, popular singer Marioara Man Gheorghe. As a teenager she participated in several national festivals, and in 2000 Elena won the trophy at the "Ursuletul Gold" festival in Baia Mare for her performance of Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time".
In 2001, she competed at the Mamaia Festival and was the youngest participant of that edition, after which she was part of the Viva band, together with Adela Popescu.
At the end of 2002, Elena became the lead singer of Mandinga, with whom she released two studio albums: ...de corazón (2003) and Soarele meu (2005), the latter becoming a commercial success in Romania, receiving a gold disc for sales of over 15,000 copies. The song "Soarele meu" was entered in the National Selection for Romania's representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 and won fourth place. In 2006, Elena Gheorghe left Mandinga.
Later, the singer signed a contract with Roton, and her debut album, entitled Vocea ta (2006) was a commercial success in Romania, Elena became one of the most successful national performers. At the end of 2006, she took part in the first edition of Dansez pentru tine, where she was partnered by Cornel Ogrean, with whom she won third place in the grand final of the competition, which took place on 20 November 2006.
During 2008 Elena released two new records: the album of Aromanian music, Lilicea Vreariei, and the album of Latin music Te ador. The two records marked the beginning of Elena's collaboration with another label, Cat Music.
In January 2009, the singer won the National Selection contest with the song "The Balkan Girls" and managed to win first place, earning a total of 22 points from the jury and the audience. By winning this competition, Elena was appointed Romania's representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow (Russia), where she placed 19th.
In 2010 she released several singles, including Disco Romancing and Midnight sun, and in 2011 she married trombonist Cornel Ene, with whom she has a son and a daughter.
In 2012, Elena released Your Captain Tonight and Amar Tu Vida, and at the end of the year she released the album Disco Romancing in Mexico, Italy, Spain and Japan. In early 2013, Elena released Ecou, in collaboration with Glance, later named the most played song in Romania for 8 weeks, according to Media Forest.
Elena Gheorghe was born in Bucharest, Romania, in the family of the priest Gheorghe Gheorghe. Her mother, Marioara Man Gheorghe, comes from a family of musicians, and is herself a folk singer. Her sister Ana pursued a career in journalism and her brother Costin is a footballer.
