Loredana | en

Loredana (real name: Loredana Groza, born 10th of June, 1970 in Onesti, Romania) is considered, by and large, the most succesful, extravagant and charismatic female pop star in Romania.

She started singing at the age of three and she continued to sing throughout her school years. When she was 14, she was noticed by composers Dumitru Morosanu and Jold Kerestely, who invited her to Bucharest for the talent show "Steaua fara nume" ("The Star Without a Name"), although she was too young, as the minimum admission age was 17. She competed in the talent show in 1986, at 16 years old, and won the big prize. In the same year, she competed in the National Music Festival in Mamaia, where she got the best newcomer prize, which made her the youngest winner ever.

In 1987, at Costinesti Music Festival, she met the famous pop music composer Adrian Enescu. He wrote the song "O inima de 16 ani" for her, and after it became a hit, he decided to write a whole album for her. Thus Loredana's first album, "Buna seara, iubito" was released in 1988. Although the title song was not broadcast on Romanian television because of the Communist censorship, the album was a huge succes, being sold in one million copies. In 1989, Adrian Enescu and Lucian Avramescu produced her second album, "Un buchet de trandafiri", that was also successful.

Her career recorded a hiatus until 1994, when Loredana came back with the album "Atitudine" and a live show meant to revive her status as a pop star. In 1995 she toured the country with the band Directia 5. 1995 was also the year when she released the album "Nascuta toamna". In 1996 she released the album "Tomilio" and started the collaboration with ProTV and Media Pro Music. In 1997 she gave an unplugged concert at the National Theatre. She also featured on the hugely sucessful hit single "Lumea e a mea" by B.U.G. Mafia. In 1999 she released the sucessful EP "Aromaroma".

In 2000, Loredana appears on the cover of "Playboy" magazine, which sells out and confirms her as an undisputed sex symbol, more than ten years after her career took off. In 2001, Loredana hires the help of Adrian Enescu again for the album "Diva Inamorata".
Two albums inspired by popular music follow in 2002 "Agurida" and "Zaraza". In 2003, the album "Fata cu sosete de diamant" is released, followed by "Extravaganza" (2005) and "Jamparalele" (2006).

In 2006, she was the host of the MTV Romania Awards. In 2007, she was the warm-up artist for George Michael's concert in Bucharest.

Loredana is married to the TV producer Andrei Boncea. They have a daughter, Elena.

Loredana can be reached on her official website
http://www.loredana.ro and on MySpace at
http://www.myspace.com/loredanagroza. .