Nuša Derenda
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Nuša Derenda's full name is Anuška Žnideršič. She was born on March 30 1969 in Brežice, is a Slovenian singer.
Derenda represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 in Copenhagen, Denmark where she took 7th place.
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[edit] Biography
Pretty soon, at the age of two and a half, Nuša Derenda made her parents aware of 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 Derenda joined a band of young musicians.
Although she wanted to become a pre-school teacher and worked part time in a nursery school for one year, she continued to sing with the band and travelled throughout Europe. In 1990, the band she was with broke up and Nuša Derenda and Frenk established a new one. By that time they had already become quite professional and toured Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland and were invited to the States for three times. It lasted seven years, seven years of wonderful experiences and hard work at the same time, as they had up to 150 concerts a year. Since 1998, Nuša Derenda has been mostly working with a group called Happy Hour. They often accompany her at concerts.
[edit] Awards
In 1995, Frenk and Nuša Derenda got married and started thinking about setting up a home in Slovenia, and she was dreaming about making an album for some time. In 1999 her dream came true with a CD Vzemi me veter (Take Me, Wind). The song bearing the same title as the CD was written by her friend Majda Arh. That song brought Nuša Derenda the first place in the Slovene TV contest Orion (November 1998). At the Slovene Pop Contest 1999 (Slovenska popevka) Nuša Derenda received the best singer award, 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 win the Orion 2000 contest with a 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.
[edit] Eurovision 2001
Winning EMA 2001 meant for Nuša even bigger media attention and popularity. She participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Copenhagen with the song Energy (Ne, ni res) and ended up seventh.
[edit] More Awards
In 2001 thanks to her Eurovision performance, she visited The International Pop Festival GOLDEN STAG in Brašow, Romania. There she won a special prize from the Ministry of culture for the best interpretation. Nuša Derenda also visited Germany at Eurosong Fan Club Party in Köln where she had a solo concert. At the end of October 2001 she was invited to Croatia to Zadarfest. There she won second place by the opinion of the professional jury and the prize for the best lyrics.
The year 2001 brought her also Victor of Popularity in the music category, which is presented every year by the magazine Stop, the winner is chosen by its readers. Also that year she received Zlati petelin (Golden Rooster) for the song Ni mi žal (I'm Not Sorry).
Nuša Derenda became one of the candidates for the The Slovene Woman of the Year 2001. Year 2002 was marked with the victory at Slovenska popevka (Slovene Pop Contest) with a song Pesek v oči (Deception). At the beginning of December 2002 she issued her third CD with a title Na štiri oči (In Private).
In year 2003 Nuša Derenda again attended the HIT Festival - the third in a row - and won with the song V ogenj zdaj obleci me (Dress Me With Fire). 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 on April 2004. The CD contains most of the popular songs from the beginning of her career until the last hits.
On September 5 shee hosted Slovenska popevka 2004 (Slovene Song 2004) at Krianke in Ljubljana and successfully passed a challenge of TV host.
[edit] Megahit 2004
Between September 6 and 12th 2004, she participated in "3rd Mediterranean Festival Megahit 2004" in a tourist centre Fethiye, in south Turkey. The Mediterranean Song Contest is an international music festival, founded by END PRODUCTION company, under the honourable patronage of FIDOF organisation led by Mr. Serhat Hacipasalioglu. The festival promotes popular music of Mediterranean countries. Its motto is "Music Unites Peace and Friendship". In this year's - 3rd international Mediterranean Festival Megahit 2004, which was conducted by Miss World 2002 Azra Akin, pop star Deniz Seki and Serhat Hacipasaligolu, participated 15 Mediterranean countries. In grand finals on September 11 2004, the jury consisted of 15 members, gave in an exciting voting the majority of points to Italy (Linda - E Vai), second place took Malta Ludwig & Julie - Mood Swing).
With 91 points Nuša Derenda won a perfect third place with a song "Devil".
[edit] Trivia
- Nuša Derenda and her son Matevž celebrate birthday on the same day, March 30. So does Celine Dion.
- In 1998 she entered a song for the EMA contest for the first time. It was accepted, but she had to cancel her performance because she was expecting a child.
- When touring Germany Nuša Derenda often performed with yodlers. She likes yodelling and learned to yodel during concert breaks. Nuša Derenda still yodels at concerts from time to time.
- She is only 154 cm tall and she wears shoes size 34. Her husband's height is 192 cm.
[edit] Fan Club
The address of her Fan Club: NUŠA DERENDA FAN CLUB p.p. 120 8270 Krško SLOVENIA
