Alenka Godec

Alenka Godec is a Slovenian pop and jazz singer, born on 5 November 1964 in Ljubljana. A German teacher by profession, she has been singing for more than three decades, has released a long row of albums and has been a regular guest at almost every major Slovenian song festival.

Her start was a striking one. In 1988 she appeared at Pop delavnica as a member of the group Café and, as a newcomer, won three awards with "Tvoja": the audience award, the jury award and the award for the most promising group. In 1989 she sang "Kadar sem sama" in the Yugoslav selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, finishing 12th. She was soon invited to work with the Big Band RTV Slovenija and the New Swing Quartet, and her first album, Tvoja, came out in 1992.

Albums followed quickly: Na sončni strani - On the Sunny Side (1994), Prebujena (1995), Čas zaceli rane (1997) and Sentimental Journey (1999). She was third at EMA 1993 with "Tisti si ti", and at Melodije morja in sonca 1997 she sang Janez Bončina's "Čas zaceli rane", which won the international jury's award for authorship. When Slovenska popevka returned in 1998 after a fifteen-year break, she sang "Bodi luč" by Oto Pestner and was named best performer.

In the 2000s she worked closely with Aleš Klinar and Anja Rupel, writing lyrics with Rupel herself. Their songs "Če verjameš ali ne" (2001) and "Poglej me v oči" (2003) both finished third at EMA, and she won the Hit festival two years running with "V meni je moč" (2001) and "Ni me strah" (2002). At Melodije morja in sonca "Raje mi priznaj" (2002) and "V dobrem in slabem" (2004) brought jury awards for the best performance, and in 2007 "Boljša kot prej" made her best performer at Slovenska popevka once more.

Alenka Godec kept recording: V meni je moč and Over the Rainbow (both 2002), Mesto sanj (2005), Hippy Christmas Vol. 2 (2009), So najlepše pesmi že napisane II (2010) and S kotički ust navzgor (2014). A 2003 compilation put her side by side with Nuša Derenda and Darja Švajger. In 2013 "Vse je ljubezen" was second at Melodije morja in sonca, and in 2022 she returned to Slovenska popevka as a member of Dinamitke with "Frajer", a song by Damjana Golavšek, winning the jury award for the best interpretation.