Nuša Derenda

Nuša Derenda

Nuša Derenda (born Anuška Žnideršič on March 30, 1969 in Brežice, SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia) is a Slovenian singer who represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 in Copenhagen, Denmark where achieved 7th place.

Biography

From the age of just two and a half, Derenda's parents realised her singing talent. She always loved to sing and perform in front of an audience.

Music was an integral part of her entire childhood. She sang in choruses, performed as a soloist, attended music school and learned to play the accordion. Shortly before finishing the 9-year elementary school, Nuša joined a band of young musicians.

Although she originally wanted to become a pre-school teacher and work part time in a nursery school for a year, she continued to sing with the band and travelled throughout Europe. In 1990, her band broke up and Nuša, along with partner Frenk, established a new group. By that time they had already become professional and toured Yugoslavia (still one county), Germany, Switzerland and were invited to the USA three times. Seven years of success and hard work followed, as the act performed up to 150 concerts in a single year. Since 1998, Derenda has mostly been working with a group called Happy Hour, with whom she records music in the studio and performs live.

Awards

In 1995, Frenk and Nuša Derenda married and started thinking about permanently settling in Slovenia. She had now dreamt about making an album for some time. In 1999, she fulfilled this ambition with a CD Vzemi me veter (Take Me, Wind): a song baring the same title as the CD was written by her friend, Majda Arh. This song earned Nuša first place in the Slovene TV contest Orion (November 1998). At the Slovene Pop Contest 1999 (Slovenska popevka) Nuša received award for best singer, and at the MMS festival (Melodies of the Sea and the Sun) the second prize of the audience with the song Boginja (The Goddess; authors Urša and Matjaž Vlašič, Boštjan Grabnar). The same team of authors helped her to win the Orion 2000 contest with the song Čez dvajset let (In Twenty Years). The group of authors, mentioned above, accompanied her also to the festival MMS 2000 (Melodies of the Sea and Sun). Nuša Derenda sang a song Ne kliči me (Don't Call Me) and won the audience's prize for the second time.

In November 2000 took place the first HIT Festival, and Nuša Derenda won with a song Ni mi žal (I'm Not Sorry). In December the same year she issued a CD with the same title.

Eurovision 2001

Winning the EMA 2001 attracted bigger media attention and popularity. She participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Copenhagen with the song Energy (Ne, ni res) where she came seventh achieving the best result for Slovenia (as of in 2010).

More Awards

In 2001, thanks to her Eurovision performance, she visited the International Pop Festival GOLDEN STAG in Braşov, Romania. There, she won a special prize from the Ministry of Culture for best interpretation of a Romanian language song. Nuša also visited Germany at Eurosong Fan Club Party in Cologne where she also held a solo concert. At the end of October 2001, she was invited to Croatia to Zadarfest. There she was awarded second place by the professional jury, and the prize for the best lyrics.

2001 also brought her Victor of Popularity in the music category, which is presented every year by the magazine Stop: the winner is selected by its readers. Also that year, she received Zlati petelin (Golden Rooster) for the song Ni mi žal (I'm Not Sorry).

Nuša became one of the candidates for The Slovene Woman of the Year 2001. 2002 was marked by victory at Slovenska popevka (Slovene Pop Contest) with a song Pesek v oči (Deception). At the beginning of December 2002, she released her third CD with a title Na štiri oči (In Private).

In 2003, Nuša again attended the HIT Festival - the third in succession - and won with the song V ogenj zdaj obleci me (Dress Me With Fire). The song won the prize from professional jury for the best music and lyrics.

Her Greatest Hits Collection 1998-2003 (Največji uspehi 1998/2003) was released in April 2004. The CD contains most of the popular songs from the beginning of her career to her latest tracks to date of release.

On September 5 that year, she hosted Slovenska popevka 2004 (Slovene Song 2004) at Križanke in Ljubljana and successfully passed the challenge of TV host.

Megahit 2004

From September 6 the 12th of 2004, she participated in the "3rd Mediterranean Festival Megahit 2004" at a tourist centre Fethiye, in southern Turkey. The Mediterranean Song Contest is an international music festival, founded by END PRODUCTION company led by Mr. Serhat Hacipasalioglu. The festival promotes popular music of Mediterranean countries. Its motto is "Music Unites Peace and Friendship". With 91 points ,Nuša won a perfect third place with the song "Devil" at the award ceremony of 2002.

Discography

• 1999 Vzemi me veter (Take me, wind)
• 2000 Ni mi žal (I'm not sorry)
• 2001 Festivali (Festivals)
• 2002 Na štiri oči (On four eyes)
• 2004 Največje uspešnice (1998 - 2004) (Greatest hits (1998–2004))
• 2005 Nuša za otroke (Nuša for children)
• 2008 Prestiž (Prestige)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Darja Švajger with "For A Thousand Years"	Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001	Succeeded by Sestre with "Samo ljubezen"

Sources

• http://www.nusaderenda.com

Persondata
Name	Derenda, Nusa
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 30, 1969
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death