Her family origins are from the Balkans.

Her parents, Dúkagjin and Anesa, of Kósovar Albanian origins, were two refugees that,

as many others, scaped from the Balkan war in the early 90s.

They settled in London, and Dua, whose name means “love” in albanian, was born there

on August 22nd 1995.

Her two little siblings would were born after her, Rina and Gjini.

Her dad worked for a promoter that organized festivals as important as Gláston-béry or

Reading.

He had also been the singer of Oda, a famous rock band in Kósovo, so Dua was raised in

a musical atmosphere.

Her first musical guides came from the music her dad would play at home, classics by David

Bowie, Bob Dylan or The Police.

However, her biggest influence came from the first CDs she bought, “Whoa, Nelly” by

Nelly Furtado and “M'ssundaztood” by Pink.

She liked the fact that, apart from being pop stars, they also were strong and independent

artists, and had messages of their own.

She started studying music and learned to play violoncello, tho she had to quit because

she couldnt carry it around being as short as she was!

Her first dissapointment came when she was rejected to enter the school choir, because

her voice was too deep.

Dua didnt give up and started taking singing classes to work on her abilities.

In 2008, her life took a littlr turn, when Kosovo became independent from Serbia Her

family decided to move back to the capital, Pristína.

There, her dad opened up a communication agency.

Thanks to it, Dua had the opportunity of attending concerts of rappers such as Method Man, Snoop

Dog or 50 Cent, turning hip-hop into her other big musical influence.

But she soon realized that, if she wanted to start her career as an artist, she would

need to go back to the English capital.

Dua carried on and, when she was 15, she convinced her parents to let her move back to London.

This would have to be accompanied by an older friend of hers, and she would have to call

her mom all the time to keep her updated.

But once she was there, she was able to continue with her singing classes.

She combined them with other jobs as public relations for a nightclub, or as a model for

clothing catalogs.

By the way, she left this job when she was forced to lose weight in order to take the

leap to the catwalk.

Dua never forgot about her objective, and in 2012 she started uploading her first versions

and own compositions to Youtube and SoundCloud.

The first one was “Lion, tigers & bears”, inspired by the Wizzard of Oz.

These first songs called the attention of a Warner Bros manager, who put her in contact

with some producers to work with and develop her style.

Dua wanted something that sounded as a mixture of the rapper J. Cole and the singer Nelly

Furtado, with dark melodies, pop chorus, with a touch of rap in the different stanzas.

Out of this first formula, “Hotter than hell” was born, and with it, her recording

contract with Warner.

Her first promotional single, “New Love”, wasnt as sucesful as expected.

It was, curiously enough, the song “Be the One” that took her to the number 1 on lists

in different european countries.

With “Blow Your Mind”, song based on her bad experience in the world of fashion, she

got her first sucesful hit in the US.

Finally, on June 2nd 2017, she released her debut album, including all her previous hits,

and also “New Rules”.

This last one would take her all the way up to the top positions in different lists.

All that came after this, is a stunning career that, in little time, has taken her to be

the first female artist leading the Brit Awards, with 5 nominations in the main categories.

All this, summed up to having a gold record, a platinum record, being Bruno Mars' supporting

artist on his tour around North America, and having collaborated with artists such as Chris

Martin from Coldplay, Sean Paul, Calvin Harris or Martin Garrix.

In the begining of this year, Spotify revealed that Dua Lipa was the most searched for female

artist in 2017 in the UK.

On a personal side, Dua declares herself as a feminist, in pursuit of equality, and she

says her lyrics talk about her own point of view on love, sex and self-empowerment.

She likes trying fun and surprising outfits for her concerts.

Off the stage, she likes boxing, and she has been the image for several brands, such as

Tommy Hilfiger.

It only took less than a decade for Dua Lipa to go, from listening to Pink and Nelly Furtado

in her room, to being on the top of the hit lists.

As she herself says, it is important to have your objectives clear in life, knowing exactly

what you want to do, and not having a plan B. Without

a doubt, she HAS done it.