Singer who signed popular albums: Who is Rita Ora?

Her real name is Rita Sahatçiu Ora, she was born on 26 November 1990 in Pristina, Yugoslavia and was born to Albanian parents. Her mother is a psychiatrist, Vera Bajraktari and her father is a tavern owner, Besnik Sahatçiu. She has an older sister named Elena and a brother named Don. Because of the surname, her family later added Ora to the family surname so that it could be easily pronounced.

When Ora was a baby, she and her family moved to London, England in 1991. And growing up in Notting Hill, West London, Ora attended and trained at a performing arts school called the Sylvia Young Theater School. She subsequently studied and graduated from St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College. Ora began performing occasionally at open mic sessions in London and at her father's bar.

Ora's first television role at the age of 13 was when she appeared in an episode of the British crime drama series "The Brief" (2004). Shortly after, she appeared in the British movie "Spivs" (2004).

In 2007, she sang "Awkward" with Craig David, her first musical work. The following year, she made a duet with Tinchy Stryder for her song "Where Is Your Love" and appeared in its music video. In the same year, she auditioned for "Eurovision: Your Country Needs You" on BBC One and qualified to be the British contestant of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. She then withdrew from the competition a few episodes later because she felt she didn't feel ready.

Soon after, Ora's manager contacted Roc Nation, the American record label. Ora was one of the first to sign a recording deal and a publishing deal with the company in December 2008. She made a guest appearance in Jay Z's "Young Forever" (2009) music video. In 2010, Ora appeared in headphone advertisements for Skullcandy.

Throughout 2011, Ora contented herself with posting covers and videos on YouTube about working on her debut album. Ora's videos caught the attention of DJ Fresh, who was looking for a female vocalist for his song "Hot Right Now".  Then she was featured on the single released on 12 February 2012 and debuted at number one on the UK best-selling singles chart. That same month, she also opened at the UK concerts of Drake's 'Club Paradise Tour'. In the same year, she took part in the "CK One" campaigns of the Calvin Klein brand.

"R.I.P", a duet with Tinie Tempah, was released on 6 May 2012, the UK's first single from her debut album. Produced by Chase & Status, the single topped the UK's best-selling singles chart once again. It was her first single in the United Kingdom. Also in the same year, "How We Do (Party)" was released as the second single from the same album. The song reached number one in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Thus, Ora's second number one single artist in the UK, and third overall in 2012.

While supporting Coldplay on the Mylo Xyloto Tour, she said her first album would be called "Ora". The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart after its release in Europe and Oceania on 27 August 2012. Ora was nominated for Best New Artist, Push Artist and Best UK/Irish Artist at the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards. "Shine Ya Light", from her debut album released on November 4, was Ora's fourth consecutive top ten song in the UK for 2012. It peaked at number ten on the charts.

In January the following year, Ora embarked on her first UK tour, the "Radioactive Tour", in support of her debut album. She was nominated for three awards at the 2013 Brit Awards, including the Brit Award for British Breakthrough Act. Around that time, she announced that her second album would be clearer and more versatile than her first. On 24 May 2013, she appeared on the BBC Radio 1's 'Big Weekend' show In New Music We Trust as the lead. She then appeared at the Pyramid Stage in Glastonbury. In 2013, she became the face of Italian sneaker brand Superga and "Material Girl", a clothing brand designed by Madonna. And in September 2013, cosmetics brand Rimmel announced a collaboration for their makeup collections.

In 2014, two singles were found in the UK top five. The first, "I Will Never Let You Down", debuted at number one as a single. The latter was also featured in Iggy Azalea's song "Black Widow", which peaked at number four in the UK. It also became the top ten song, peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Later in the year, she performed in the 2014 television broadcast of "Christmas in Washington," filmed at the National Building Museum.

The following year, Ora was featured on Charli XCX's "Doing It", which debuted at number eight in the UK. Later that month, she sang the single "Grateful" from Gina Prince-Bythewood's romantic drama film "Beyond the Lights" (2014) at the 87th Academy Awards. Ora appeared on Funny or Die's episode of "Girl, You Better Walk" with Korean pop star Hyuna in April 2014.

In January 2014, Adidas announced a multi-year designer collaboration for casual sportswear brands Adidas Originals. Ora designed her own clothing collections for the brand, including shoes and accessories. She became the face of Donna Karan(DK) brand's 2014 collection, Resort collection and Autumn/Winter collection. She was also the face of the brand's New York City inspired fragrance "DKNY My NY". She later appeared as the face of the Roberto Cavalli brand's Autumn/Winter campaign in 2014.

In 2015, she took on the role of Mia, Christian Grey's sister, in the first film of the film adaptation of the best-selling novel Fifty Shades of Grey. Then, she repeated this role in two of the sequel films. Initially applying to production to compose and contribute to the film's soundtrack, Ora was told instead to audition for the role of Mia Gray by the film's director, Sam Taylor-Johnson. She got the role as a result.

In 2015, she coached the fourth season of the BBC One singing competition TV series "The Voice UK". That same year, it was confirmed that Ora and Nick Grimshaw had signed on as the judges for the twelfth episode of "The X Factor" on TV network ITV.

In June 2016, it was announced that he had signed a new deal with Atlantic Records. On September 3, 2016, she gave a concert in St.Paul's Basilica in Rome, accompanied by the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra, during the vigil with other Albanian artists.

The following year Ora released "Your Song", her first solo single in almost two years. Song peaked at number seven on the UK charts and became the title track of Ora's second studio album. The album's second single, "Anywhere", became the eleventh best song in the UK and peaked at number two on the charts. In January 2018, Ora performed the song "For You" from the soundtrack of the movie "Fifty Shades Freed" with Liam Payne.

On September 18, 2018, Ora announced the title and release date of her second studio album, "Phoenix". She then released "Let You Love Me", the fourth song from the album. The single peaked at number four on the UK charts. This success managed to become Ora's 13th top ten song. Thus, she broke a 30-year record among the top ten songs by a British female solo artist.

In October 2018, she announced the album's tour dates in Europe, Asia and Oceania, starting March 1 and running through May 29, 2019. In April 2019, she released the single "Carry On" as a standalone song for a mysterious fantasy comedy film titled "Pokémon: Detective Pikachu", in which she had a brief role with Norwegian DJ and music producer Kygo. On May 31 that same year, she released the song "Ritual" with Tiësto and Jonas Blue. Ora designed a capsule shoe collection in 2018 with Italian shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti.

In September 2019, Ora confirmed to Marie Claire magazine that she had begun work on her third studio album. She gave details about her third studio album, which will be released with the NME website and radio station. In 2019, she was the face of several German brands, including luxury fashion brand Escada, jewelery company Thomas Sabove, and shoe retailer Deichmann. Ora was announced as a member of the jury for the UK version of the music game show "The Masked Singer", which aired on ITV in January 2020.

In 2021, she played Artful Dodger in the crime drama film "Twist" (2021), an adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist, directed by Martin Owen. In February 2022, Ora announced that she had signed a record deal with Berlin-based music label BMG.

Private life

Ora was in a relationship with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris from 2013 to June 2014. Later in 2016, Ora dated American musician Andrew Watt. The couple were together for two years until September 2018. Ora, who has been in a relationship with New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi since 2021, married her boyfriend in 2022.

Ora speaks Albanian. Being a British citizen, Ora took the stage in aid campaigns or aid funds of many foundations and institutions. She supported and created awareness with these concerts. In April 2019, he took part as one of the UNICEF UK ambassadors.