Ελένη Φουρέιρα

Ελένη Φουρέιρα (Latin script: Eleni Foureira; born as Entela Fureraj on 7 March 1987) is a singer, actress, dancer, and fashion designer. Born in Fier, Albania, she left Albania with her family at the age of 8 and settled in Greece, growing up in the Kallithea neighbourhood of Athens. Foureira began pursuing music at a young age, learning how to play the guitar and later working in a theatre for three years. She began her professional music career in 2007 as a member of the Greek girl group Mystique before pursuing a solo career after the group disbanded in 2009. Internationally, she is best known for having represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Fuego". Finishing 2nd, she achieved the best ever result in the contest for a representative of Cyprus. Since the beginning of her career, Foureira's ancestral origins have garnered intense speculation from Greek media. As a member of Mystique, she claimed to be Brazilian. However, she later began claiming that her father was from Athens and her mother from Ioannina, although she had some Mexican ancestry as well. In 2010, reports of Foureira attempting to naturalize as a Greek citizen further increased speculation regarding her origins. She did not comment on the reports until 2014, when she confirmed that she was ethnically Albanian, born as Entela Fureraj. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.