| Leila K | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Laila El Khalifi |
| Born | September 6, 1971 |
| Origin | Bergsjön, Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Genres | Pop, Eurodance |
| Years active | 1989–1999 ; 2011–Present |
Laila El Khalifi (born September 6, 1971, Bergsjön, Gothenburg, Sweden) better known by her stage name Leila K, is a Swedish Eurodance singer and former rapper of Moroccan descent.
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Her parents decided to send her to a school in Morocco, but she did not fit into the system so after one year she returned to Sweden.
She was discovered by the musical duo Rob'n'Raz when singing in a music contest. They liked her music and offered her a recording contract in 1988. Together with Rob'n'Raz she had her first hit in 1989 with the song "Got To Get" (first recorded within the UK as a pre-production demo by Pete Towns of P&P Productions) (#8 UK,[1] #3 Germany).
During the first years of her career she had many chart-topping hits and her music was played all over Europe. She broke up with Rob'n'Raz and went on her own to Ibiza, where she was treated like a superstar and managed to set up concerts on her own. Her solo career started in 1991 with the single "Time" which she followed up with many other popular singles, such as her biggest hit "Open Sesame" (#23 UK, #5 Germany) and a cover version of Plastic Bertrand's "Ça Plane Pour Moi" (#69 UK, #13 Germany). In 1993 she was the best selling female artist in Europe.
In 1995 Leila K was back on the music scene with the hit single "Electric". She kept releasing new music until 1997, but since then she has not released anything new.
In 1998, SVT made a documentary about Leila K's claim for stardom called Fuck You, Fuck You Very Much. The event focuses on an incident that happened during the 1996 Swedish Grammis awards. In 2000, she appeared on Daisy Dee's "Open Sesame" video, a cover of her own 1992 hit. Daisy Dee was the presenter of the show "Viva Club Rotation" at the time. In 2003, Swedish media reported [2] that Leila K was living on the streets, stealing food for herself.
In 2005, the Swedish cartoonist Martin Kellerman conducted an interview with her for his own comic book magazine, Rocky. On June 15, 2007, Swedish media reported[3] that she turned up as a surprise guest at a release party for the book Bögjävlar, performing the songs "Ça Plane Pour Moi", and her old hit, "Electric".
2009 the rock documentary Fuck You, Fuck You Very Much was released May 2009 in Sweden.
In May 2011, Leila K appeared for the first time in years as a feature guest on a new track called "Legendary" by artist Wallenberg. It's still unclear whether new material of or with Leila K will be released in near future.