Rona Nishliu

Rona Nishliu is a Kosovo Albanian singer and songwriter, born on 25 August 1986 in Mitrovica. Her music draws on jazz, soul and pop, and she is also known as a radio presenter. She grew up in Mitrovica and moved to Pristina at the age of thirteen.

In 2004 she reached the top five of the television talent show Ethet e së premtes mbrëma, and afterwards she worked as a presenter at Radio Blue Sky in Pristina. The same year she sang "Flakareshë" with Vesa Luma and Teuta Kurti at the 43rd Festivali i Këngës, reaching the final night. Festival prizes followed: the TV Klan award at Kënga Magjike 2006 for "Shenja", first prize at Poli Fest 2007 for "Veriu", a Video Fest nomination for "Shko pastro pas saj" in 2008, and the best vocal award at Kënga Magjike 2009. Among her other songs are "Të lashë", "Eja", "Zonja vdekje" and "A ka arsye?" with Bim Bimma.

In December 2011 she won Festivali i Këngës with "Suus", taking the best interpreter award as well. She received Albanian citizenship in January 2012, and the win sent her to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku as Albania's entry, where she finished fifth with 146 points, Albania's best result up to then.

In 2014 Rona Nishliu gave a concert in Belgrade as part of the festival "Mirëdita, dobar dan", and in 2017 she became a coach on the sixth series of The Voice of Albania. In recent years she has recorded Albanian traditional songs in jazz arrangements with the Rona Nishliu Quartet, collected as Me motive tonat, along with duo versions and tributes to the singers Tefta Tashko Koço and Vaçe Zela.