Gašper Rifelj

Gašper Rifelj is a Slovenian pop singer, born on 2 September 1990 in Novo mesto, and he comes from Ždinja vas. He plays the diatonic accordion and the guitar, studied singing with Nace Junkar and Nataša Nahtigal and attended the music conservatory in Novo mesto.

He recorded his first song, "Ljubim, ljubiš", in 2007 and sent it to Melodije morja in sonca without success. The same year he won Hitmania, the first Slovenian online music contest, and the prize was a record deal with Nika Records. In 2009 his song "Greva do neba" was picked only as a reserve for EMA, so he did not perform there.

Festivals made his name. At Slovenska popevka 2009 he sang "Ti veš", which won the expert jury's award for the best lyrics and finished second; the same year he sang "Brez Dolen'ca ni Slovenca" at the Festival of Dialect Songs. He returned to Slovenska popevka with "Mozaik" in 2010 (third place) and "Manj je več" in 2012 (fourth), and later with "Utrip srca" (2017) and "Dovolj je poletja" (2019), a duet with Eva Boto. With her he also sang "Ljubezen dela čudeže", written by Gaber Radojevič and Lea Sirk, at Melodije morja in sonca 2015, where it came fifth.

In 2011 he took part in Misija Evrovizija, the search for Slovenia's singer at Eurovision 2012 in Baku. He was the only man to reach the final eight, where he was the first to go out and finished eighth. He has worked with songwriters such as Bilbi, Gregor Stermecki, Raay, Matjaž Jelen, Miro Buljan, Gaber Radojevič and Lea Sirk.

His singles outside the festivals include "Kriv sem" (2011), "Zadihaj" (2012), "Čas" (2016), "Ljubljena" and "Hotel za 2" (both 2018), a new version of Jan Plestenjak's "Moja ljubica" with Kvatropirci (2019), "Samo tvoj" (2020), and "Dan za metulje" and "Tvoje ime" (2021). His more recent music videos include "Ranjena", "Raj", "Ignoranca" and "Naj ne bo hladno".

In 2018 he finished second with his partner Maja Geršak in the second season of the POP TV show Zvezde plešejo, and he played Alex the lion in the musical Madagascar at Špas teater, which opened on 29 September 2018.