Anjeza Shahini

Anjeza Shahini (born 4 May 1987) is an Albanian singer. She became the first representative for Albania at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song The Image of You. The year before, 2003, Shahini had won the first "Friday Night Fever" (Albanian Pop Idol). At the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest Shahini reached the finals with and edited English verson of Imazhi yt, the song she had won the RTSH song festival (Festivali i Këngës 42) with. She finished the contest in 7th place with 106 points, the best result Albania has achieved at Eurovision to this date. In 2005 she signed a contract with an artist management based in Vienna for an international music career and announced her intention to once again participate in the National Song Festival (Festivali i Këngës), the Albanian selection process for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. She performed the song Pse ndal but failed to win, losing out to Luiz Ejlli. This result provocated something of a big outcry in Albania, as well-known domestic Albanian singers, like Anjeza, failed to win, and even prompted accusations of jury bias. On 3 June 2006, Anjeza Shahini was a special guest performer at the Euro Video Grand Prix contest which was held in Albania. She opened the contest with the song Welcome which was also released as a single. After taking a break from the music industry to continue her studies in pop music in Austria, in 2007 Anjeza returned to the Albanian stage with two important projects. She was one of the protagonist singers in Këngët e Shekullit 2, a successful series on TV Klan consisting of remakes of the best Albanian songs from the past century. She was also a participant in Kënga Magjike 2007 with the song Nxënësja më e mirë ("The Best Student") which landed her in 4th place. In August 2008, Anjeza Shahini released her first album, Erdhi momenti containing new songs recorded in Albanian. http://www.myspace.com/anjezashahini