Elena Risteska was born in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia(then in Yugoslavia) and showed an interest in music and drawing at an early age. Elena inherited her musical interest from her mother, but also she pursued other hobbies and interests from her.
• In 1994, Elena joined the KUD "Kocho Racin" (a club for folk dances and songs). Elena took part in school activities such as singing in the "Young Imitators" show and becoming a member of the drama club.
• In 1996, Elena made her television debut in the “Mak-Karaoke Show” where she performed the song “Flamingo” on the commercial channel A1 TV. The same year she started taking courses in English and French language. After that, Elena started singing in the school chorus and went to Bulgaria for her first tour with the folk dances club.
• In 1998, Elena took part in many competitions and won many local, national, and international awards in drawing.
• In 1999, Elena provided her talent in poetry by one song of her, that won title best and it was published in the most famous children newspaper – “Our World”.
• In 2000, Elena went on toured in Turkey, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria with the folk dances club. That year she was on one art colony in Strumica too.
• At December 22nd 2002, Elena rose to popularity in Macedonia by competing and winning in the reality television show Play - Search For A Star organized by “M2” production. Her debut single, “Ona Drugoto” ("The Other Thing”)" became a hit in Macedonia.
• In July 2003, she had her successful debut album "Den i Nok". The album included various songs (R&B, Pop and Hip-Hop) which also became successful singles in Macedonia and other Balkan countries. Risteska is also an occasional songwriter. She has written many songs for many popular performers here in Macedonia and also in the other countries for ex: 4Play, Lambe Alabakoski, Robert Bilbilob, Rade Vrcakovski – Vrcak, Aleksandra Pileva, Verica Pandilovska ect.
After her great success with her debut album in Macedonia, she started promoting herself outside in the foreign countries.
• In 2004, she performed at the Golden Stag Festival in Brasov, Romania and in 2005 she performed “Ni na nebo, ni na zemja” (“Neither heaven nor earth”) at the “Suncane Skale” festival in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. Elena’s video began rotating on MTV Adria and her popularity continued to grow.
• On March 4, 2006, Elena Risteska won the Macedonia preselection contest for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ninanajna”. The song was composed and produced by Darko Dimitrov, with lyrics by Rade Vrcakovski. The song is an uptempo, pop song with elements of R&B, disco and dance music. Risteska qualified for the final, and after spending most of the night on the edge of the top ten, at 18th od May 2006, she finished 12th with 56 points, the best finish for any musician who has ever represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest.
After her performance on the Eurovision Song Contest her popularity grew very fast although she was already popular. That contest guarantied her many contracts with many foreign production houses such as “Foreign Media Music” from Netherland and “Studio Shaman” from France and she signed a couple of contracts with foreign performers such as – Regina (with who she published the song “Ljubav nije za nas” as an alteration of the eponymous song.
• In July 2006, Elena performed “Ne Mogu” (“I Can’t”) (Darko Dimitrov,Kaliopi,Darko Dimitrov)at the "Suncane Skale" festival where she placed 10th. Elena traveled to Yerevan, Armenia in September to perform as a guest in Armenia’s Eurovision 2006 representative Andre’s concert. She was well received by the audience, which was expected because her Eurovision song “Ninanajna” was a summer hit and a popular ringtone in Armenia.
•In October 2006, Elena released a new single called "Esen Vo Mene"("Autumn In Me") composed by Darko Dimitrov.
After that she published her second album called "192” (which name is a number for calling the police here in Macedonia). The album is made in France in the “Studio Shaman” in production of Leroy Chambers and Darko Dimitrov. As the first one, the second one was also accepted really good from the audience and it had a successful promotion. Most of the songs as: “Esen vo mene” (Automn in me), “Nekade Daleku” (Somewhere far), “Milioner”(Millioner) and the eponymous song “192” became hits number one in the Macedonian radio stations.
Elena is currently studying Italian language and literature in the faculty of philology – “St.Cyril and Methodius University” in Skopje, as well going in the university “Eurocollege” in Kumanovo. In the moment she’s preparing her English album also named as “192” which is planed to promote her in the foreign countries. Also, she is going to publish her video for the English version of the song “Milioner” which is made in Amsterdam and produced by “Foreign Media Music”. Anyway, she’s still performing almost every weekend in the Macedonian famous night clubs such as: “Grand”, “Frame”, “B2”, “Level”, “Colosseum” ect
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