Helena Blagne

Helena Blagne is a Slovenian pop singer who also sings opera, born on 8 May 1963 in Jesenice. She first sang in public at twelve, at the amateur contest Prvi glas Gorenjske in 1976, where "Santa Lucia" won her the second jury prize, and she later studied opera singing for twelve years with Ksenija Vidali Žebre. At Pop delavnica she sang "Ne hodi mi preblizu" in 1984 and "Ti si vse, kar si želim" in 1985.

She turned professional in 1986, when "Koga te nema" won both the audience and the jury prize at Makfest, and through the late 1980s she was a frequent winner at festivals across Yugoslavia. At the Split festival "More ljubavi moja" took the audience prize in 1987, and in 1988 she won first prize there with "Jedna suza za nas dvoje" and "Ustanak i more". At Melodije morja in sonca she won the audience's first prize in 1989 with "Vrniva se na najino obalo", sung with Nace Junkar, and in 1991 with "Moj mornarček", sung with Don Juan, and in 1993 "Bodi srečen, bambino" was second. She also tried for Eurovision, at Jugovizija in 1990 and 1991 and at the Slovenian EMA in 1993 with "Vzemi me nocoj", which came fifth, and in 1999 "Io sono sola" won the grand prix and every other main prize at Eurofest.

Her albums run from "Adijo, piši mi" (1990) and "Poleti, lastovka" (1992), which earned a gold award, through "Nedotaknjena" (1995), which sold about 30,000 copies and went double platinum, "Primadona" (1997) and "Srebrna reka" (2000) to "Helenin dnevnik" (2005) and "Reci mi" (2008). She has sold more than two million records, the most of any Slovenian female singer according to Slovenian Wikipedia, and has recorded for Jugoton, ZKP RTV Ljubljana and Dallas Records.

After the birth of her son Kristijan she took a break and returned to the stage in 2002. In 2006 she played Agave in "Bakhantke", directed by Vito Taufer, and in 2007 she co-hosted the EMA final with Mario Galunič. In March 2011 she became the first Slovenian female musician to fill Arena Stožice, singing with the Vienna Boys' Choir, in 2016 she won both first prizes at Ohrid Fest with "Neka e so pomin", and in May 2025 she marked 40 years on stage with a sold-out concert with the RTV Slovenija Symphony Orchestra at Križanke. Helena Blagne's best-known songs also include "Španski harlem" and "Ti boš vedno prvi".