Nicola | |
|---|---|
 Nicola in a promotional image for the album "De mă vei chema". | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 5 November 1968 |
| Origin | Bucharest, Romania |
| Genres | Dance, Pop, Pop/Rock |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Labels | MediaPro Music (1998–1999) Cat Music (2000–2005) MediaPro Music (2009 – present) |
| Website | nicola.ro |
Nicoleta Alexandru (Romanian pronunciation: [nikoˈleta alekˈsandru]; born 5 November 1968), (stage name Nicola (Romanian pronunciation: [niˈkola])), is a Romanian singer. She is best known for representing Romania at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest.
She began her solo career in 1992, touring extensively along with television, radio and stage appearances. In 2003, she was awarded the Woman of the Year award by Avantaje magazine, her song "Lângă mine" was awarded "Song of the Year" by București and Actualitati Radio stations, and she was awarded Mamaia and Love Song Festival trophies for that song.
On 1 March 2003, after a huge response to her song "Don't Break My Heart," Alexandru won the Romanian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest at Riga. In the final, she came in 10th place.[1] She released her fourth LP, Best Of Nicola, that year. Building on the recognition gained from the Eurovision Song Contest, the album was certified platinum. That year she also won "Best Female" at the TV K Lumea awards.
In January 2005, she released De mă vei chema which spawned two hit singles; "De mă vei chema" and "Honey". She subsequently launched the video for lead single "De mă vei chema". It featured her backing band, consisting of Andrei Stanoevici, Cătălin Dalvarea, Ștefan Corbu and her ex-husband Mihai Alexandru.
She faced tough competition for "Best Pop" and "Best Female" at the MTV Romania Music Awards 2005; she won the latter award.
In late 2005, she and Mihai divorced after 15 years. The divorce was featured in Romanian tabloids, partly because he was a high-profile music producer.
In summer 2007, Alexandru returned to the charts with "Doar noi doi". The video was filmed on location in Barcelona, Spain. Later on in the year, she released "Dacă-i tarziu," part of her fourth studio album. Her song, "Fairytale Story", placed 7th out of 12 songs in the national final. Nicola then went on to release the single, "Leave No Heart Behind," in fall 2008, written by Thomas Nichols, who co-wrote songs by Céline Dion and All Saints.
On 21 August 2009, Nicola launched her studio album, Thank You. The first single from the album was "My Love", which was co-worked with Kord. The single had a music video, which was directed by Dragoș Buliga.