Elena Risteska

Elena Risteska (Елена Ристеска, ; born 27 April 1986), sometimes known as simply Elena, is a Macedonian singer.

Risteska was born in Skopje on 27 April 1986 in then SR Macedonia to parents Acko and Desa.

She showed an interest in the arts at an early age, inheriting her musical interest from her mother but also pursuing other hobbies and interests.

In 1994, she joined the KUD "Kočo Racin", which was a club for folk dance 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, Risteska made her television debut during the Mak-Karaoke Show performing the song "Flamingo" on the commercial channel A1.

The same year she started studying the English and French languages.

She started to sing in the school choir and went to Bulgaria for her first tour with the folk dance club.

In 1998, she took part in many competitions and won many local, national, and international awards in drawing.

In 2000, Risteska toured Bulgaria with the folk dance club again.

Risteska rose to fame in North Macedonia by competing and Being one of two winners on the music-based reality television show "Play - Search For A Star".

Her debut single, "Ona Drugoto" ("The Other Thing") became a hit in North Macedonia, resulting in her successful debut album Den i Nok (Ден и Ноќ).

The album included various songs which also became successful singles in North Macedonia and other Balkan countries.

She is also an occasional songwriter, writing for artists such as 4Play, Lambe Alabakoski, Aleksandra Pileva, Maja Sazdanovska, Robert Bilbilov, Verica Pandilovska, Adnan, Emil and Anja Veterova.

Following the success of her debut album, she began promoting herself outside of North Macedonia.

In 2004, she performed at the Golden Stag Festival in Braşov, Romania and in 2005 she performed "Ni na nebo, ni na zemja" ("Neither heaven nor earth") at the Sunčane Skale music festival in Herceg Novi, Montenegro.

Her music video was broadcast on MTV Adria and her popularity continued to grow.

She represented Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens with the song "Ninanajna", and finished in 12th place; this was the highest ever finish for the country until Risteska's record was beaten in 2019.

Risteska is also an occasional songwriter, writing for artists such as 4Play, Lambe Alabakoski, and Aleksandra Pileva.

She took part in the second season of the Serbian version of Your Face Sounds Familiar, where she placed second in the final as Beyoncé.

On 4 March 2006 Elena Risteska won the North Macedonia pre-selection contest for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ninanajna".

The song was composed and produced by Darko Dimitrov, with lyrics by Rade Vrčakovski.

The song is an uptempo, pop song which includes elements of R&B, disco and dance music.

She made a video shot for the song together with the Macedonian production "Tomato".

In the video she was presented as shiny care girl that wants love.

In July 2006, Elena performed "Ne Mogu" ("I Can't" in Serbo-Croatian) at the Sunčane Skale festival where she placed 10th overall.

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 since her Eurovision song "Ninanajna" was a summer hit and a popular ringtone in Armenia.

In October, Elena released a new single called "Esen Vo Mene" ("Autumn In Me").

The song was composed by Darko Dimitrov.

After her hits released over the previous year, Risteska's second album, 192, was released at the end of 2006.

It contains "Ninanajna", "Esen Vo Mene", a Macedonian version of "Ne Mogu" and new material.

Risteska qualified for the final, and after spending most of the night on the edge of the top ten (which would guarantee automatic final qualification for North Macedonia in 2007), she eventually finished 12th with 56 points, her country's highest finish ever until 2019 when Tamara Todevska came 7th with 305 points.

In 2007, Elena took part in Skopje Fest 2007, the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Although she was not a performer this time, she wrote the lyrics for the song "Belo e se" ("Everything is White"), which was performed by Lambe Alabakoski and came in third place with 101 points.

At the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, she delivered the results of the national televoting of North Macedonia during the final night.

Risteska participated in the Radijski Festival on 15 December 2007, performing the song "Kreveta dva".

It is the Serbian version of her song Ima li kraj.

Elena finished in second place together with Karolina Gočeva.

Elena won two awards, one for best interpretation and the other from Radio OSM Pale.