Dua Lipa

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**Dua Lipa** (born 22 August 1995) is an English singer and songwriter. After working as a model, she signed with Warner Bros. Records in 2014 and released her eponymous debut album in 2017. The album peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart, and yielded eight singles, including "Be the One", "IDGAF", and the UK number-one single "New Rules", which also peaked at number six in the US. The album has achieved platinum status worldwide. At the 2018 Brit Awards, Lipa won for British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act.

Her 2018 single "One Kiss" with Calvin Harris peaked at number one in the UK and became the longest-running number-one single for a female artist in 2018. It won her the 2019 Brit Award for Song of the Year. In 2019, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and her Silk City-collaboration "Electricity" won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. Her 2019 single "Don't Start Now" peaked at number two in the UK and US, and number four on the US Hot 100 year-end chart. It would become the most successful 2020 song by a female artist in the US. The single "Levitating" (2020) peaked in the top-five in the US and UK.

Her second studio album, *Future Nostalgia* (2020), received critical acclaim and earned her six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It became her first UK number-one album, with four top-ten singles including "Physical" and "Break My Heart". In 2021, Lipa was included on *Time*'s 100 Next list about the future 100 most influential people in the world. She won for British Female Solo Artist and British Album of the Year at the 2021 Brit Awards. Lipa has received multiple accolades, including three Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Award, and an American Music Award.

## Early Life

Dua Lipa was born in London, England, the eldest child of Kosovo Albanian parents Anesa (née Rexha) and Dukagjin Lipa from Pristina, FR Yugoslavia (present-day Kosovo). Her family is of Muslim heritage. Through her maternal grandmother, she is of Bosnian descent. Her ancestry could also be traced back to the city of Peja, in present-day Kosovo. She has a sister named Rina and a brother named Gjin. Lipa was musically influenced by her father, who was the lead singer and guitarist of the Kosovan rock band Oda. Her father continued to play music at home, including his own compositions and songs of artists such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Sting, The Police and Stereophonics. Lipa started singing at the age of five.

Lipa grew up in West Hampstead, London. She attended Fitzjohn's Primary School, where her music lessons included the cello. When she auditioned to enter the school choir, the teacher told her that "she could not sing". At the age of nine, she began weekend singing lessons at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Lipa moved with her family to Pristina after Kosovo declared independence in 2008. There, she learned more about the Albanian language and considered a musical career.

Lipa moved back to London at age 15. At Parliament Hill School she achieved her A-Levels, then re-entered Sylvia Young Theatre School part-time. She uploaded her own songs to SoundCloud, and on YouTube, she began posting videos of herself covering songs such as "If I Ain't Got You" (2004) by Alicia Keys and "Beautiful" (2002) by Christina Aguilera on YouTube. Lipa modeled with Topshop, and signed with a modelling agency, helping her land a role as a "singer" in an ITV advertisement for *The X Factor* in 2013, covering the song "Lost in Music" (1979). She acquired a producer and a manager.

## Personal Life

Her first name "Dua" was her grandmother's idea and means "love" in Albanian. Her native language is Albanian and she also speaks English with a British accent.

Lipa began a relationship with British black metal singer James Harrison in 2014. They briefly moved to Los Angeles in 2016 before moving back to the United Kingdom later that year. They since moved to Balestrand in Norway and now split their time between the UK and Norway. In June 2019 they got engaged and welcomed their first child Lendina in March 2020. Their wedding was originally planned for May 2020 but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they would get married a year later in May 2021 at a small intimate ceremony.