Biography
Who is Kaliopi?
Early life and real name
Kaliopi was born as Kaliopi Bukleska on December 28, 1966, in Ohrid, North Macedonia, into a mixed Aromanian and Macedonian family. She grew up in Kičevo and showed an early interest in music. In 1976, she won a children festival named Zlatno Slavejče with the song Mojata učitelka. Between 1978 and 1980, she toured internationally with the choir of Zapro Zaprov named Razvigorče, performing in countries such as Austria and Czechoslovakia.
She continued her musical education by studying solo singing under Marija Nikolovska for four years. She then advanced her training at the Music Academy in the class of Blagoja Nikolovski starting in 1984. During that same year, she competed in the Yugoslavian solo singing contest as the youngest classical music singer, finishing in third place.
Band formation and early success
In 1984, Kaliopi founded a band named Kaliopi alongside Romeo Grill. At the request of Macedonian Radio, they recorded their first two tracks, Tomi and Nemoj da me budis. Their song Leo won best interpretation at the Festival Opatija through a vote by Yugoslavian journalists. The band released their self-titled debut album on the ZKP RTLJ record label in 1986 and won best debut performer at the Split Festival for Da more zna.
In 1987, the band released their second album titled Rodjeni in Zagreb, which produced the hit song Rodjeni (Bato) created by Romeo Grill. The band toured extensively, including performances in the Soviet Union, before Kaliopi and Grill relocated to Switzerland at the peak of their popularity. The band was eventually dissolved following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Solo career and Eurovision
Kaliopi returned as a solo artist by competing in the 1996 edition of Skopje Fest with the track Samo ti. She won first place from both the jury and the audience, earning the right to represent Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. However, Macedonia was eliminated during a non-televised audio pre-selection. She later released her solo debut album Oboi me in December 1999 and established her own record label, Kaliopi Music Production, in 2000.
She represented Macedonia twice in the Eurovision Song Contest in her later career. First, she performed Crno i belo in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2012. Second, she performed the song Dona in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2016.
Birthday and age
Kaliopi was born on December 28, 1966, which makes Kaliopi 59 years old today. That birthday falls under the Capricorn sign. Kaliopi shares the date with 59 other famous people.
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