Childhood & Early Life
Dua Lipa was born on August 22, 1995 in London, England to Albanian rock singer turned marketing executive Dukagjin Lipa and his wife, Anesa Lipa. She has a sister named Rina and a brother named Gjin. Her parents, ethnic Albanians from Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, had migrated to Europe to escape violence and oppression in the 1990s.
She was influenced by her singer father, even though she was not pressurized to become a singer. Following a negative experience in high school, she attended the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School part-time, where the teacher put her with older students to build her confidence.
After Kosovo declared independence in February 2008, her family moved back there, but she found it difficult to fit in. She began covering songs by her favorite artists on YouTube when she was 14, and at 15, convinced her parents to let her move back to London to pursue a career in music.
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Career
After relocating to London, Dua Lipa moved in with some friends in Camden and did some side jobs, like working as the hostess of a nightclub. She attended theatre school with her friends, but would eventually drop out for a year to focus on music, never to go back.
At the age of 16, she began her career as a model after being approached by a manager, but due to her figure, she never got good assignments except for a television advertisement for 'The X Factor'. She actually did modeling to make contacts with people with an interest in music.
She aggressively promoted her YouTube channel to new acquaintances, and eventually in 2015, signed a contract with Warner Music Group for her debut album. Her promotional debut single, 'New Love', produced by Emile Haynie and Andrew Wyatt and containing lyrics by her, was released in August 2015.
She achieved success in Europe and Australia with her second single, 'Be the One' – the only song from her album that she didn't write – which was released in October 2015. The single, which acted as the first proper single for her upcoming eponymous debut album, reached the top 10 of the musical charts in over 11 European territories, and reached No.1 position in Belgium.
In November 2015, it was revealed that she will be on the BBC 'Sound of...2016' list. In January 2016, she began her first tour through the UK and Europe, which continued till November that year.
The second single for her album, 'Last Dance', was released on February 9, 2016, but it failed to chart in any country. The third single, 'Hotter than Hell', released on May 6, peaked at number 15 in the United Kingdom and reached the top 20 in several countries.
On August 26, 2016, she released her next single, 'Blow Your Mind (Mwah)', which was inspired by her earlier attempts to change herself physically to get modeling assignments, which badly affected her mindset. It became her first US 'Billboard Hot 100' entry at No.72, and also topped the 'Billboard Dance Club Songs' chart and peaked at No.23 on the 'Billboard Mainstream Top 40' chart.
In November 2016, she was featured on the Sean Paul single 'No Lie', which reached number 10 in the UK chart. In January next year, she collaborated with Martin Garrix to release the single 'Scared to Be Lonely', which peaked at No.14 in the UK.
After working on it for almost two years, on June 2, 2017, she finally released her debut album, which reached No.3 on the UK chart. The following month she released 'New Rules', which was her first single to reach the top of the UK chart. It charted on No.2 in Australia, No.6 in the US and No.6 in Canada.
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Her performance at the Glastonbury Festival on June 23, 2017 pulled one of the biggest crowds for the event in recent times. In October 2017, she performed on BBC's music television show 'Later... with Jools Holland'.
In January 2018, she received nominations in five categories at the 'Brit Awards' as the only artist that year, as well as the first female artist ever to achieve this feat. She won the awards for 'British Female Solo Artist' and 'British Breakthrough Act' categories, and also performed at the awards ceremony at the O2 Arena in London on February 21.
She collaborated with electronic music producer Whethan for the song 'High' from the soundtrack of the film 'Fifty Shades Freed', which released in February 2018. In April that year, she provided vocals and contributed to the lyrics of the single 'One Kiss' by Calvin Harris, which became her second chart-topping single in the UK.
She is currently working on her second studio album.
Personal Life & Legacy
Dua Lipa was in a relationship with celebrity chef and model Isaac Carew for two years till they broke up in February 2017. She later became involved with musician Paul Klein, but within five months it was reported that she was back with Carew again.
A documentary on the life of the singer was commissioned by 'The Fader' magazine in December 2016. The short video, titled 'See in Blue', can be found on the magazine's YouTube channel.
In June 2017, she was one of the singers who lent vocals to the charity single, 'Bridge over Troubled Water', arranged by Simon Cowell, for the families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London. She had previously established the Sunny Hill Foundation with her father to donate to the citizens of Kosovo.
