Rita Ora Biography

Rita Ora was born Rita Sahatçiu on November 26, 1990, in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia, which is now Kosovo. When she was a year old, her Albanian parents, Vera and Besnik Sahatçiu, fled Kosovo and moved to the UK at a time when Albanians were being oppressed by Dictator Slobodan Milosevic.

Rita Ora began singing at an early age and used to perform at open mic sessions around London. She occasionally performed at her father's pub. However, her professional career started as an actor in 2004, when she appeared in an episode of the British drama series 'The Brief.' The same year, she landed a role in the British film 'Spivs,' playing an Albanian immigrant.

In 2007, she got her first break in music when she was featured in Craig David's track 'Awkward.' The next year, she was featured in Craig David's 'Where's Your Love' along with Tinchy Stryder.

In 2008, she successfully auditioned for 'Eurovision: Your Country Needs You' on ‘BBC One’ and became the British contestant for 'Eurovision Song Contest 2009.' However, she withdrew from the competition after a few episodes when her manager Sarah Stennett convinced her that participating in it would be detrimental to her efforts of being a solo artist.

In 2008, her manager got Jay Z's record label ‘Roc Nation’ to notice her work. She flew to America to meet Jay Z in person and was immediately signed to ‘Roc Nation.’ Over the next couple of years, she appeared in Jay Z's music video 'Young Forever' and Drake's video 'Over.'

In May 2012, she released her debut single 'R.I.P.,' featuring Tinie Tempah. It was followed by another single, 'How We Do (Party),' in August that year. Both the songs topped the ‘UK Singles Chart,’ and were later included in her debut album 'Ora' which released on August 27, 2012. In late 2012 and early 2013, she toured the US and the UK respectively to promote her album.

She released the single 'I Will Never Let You Down' on May 18, 2014. It reached the top of the ‘UK Singles Chart.’ The next month, she was featured in the single 'Black Widow' from Iggy Azalea's album 'The New Classic.' It became her first top-ten song on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ chart when it peaked at number three.

Ora appeared as a judge in the British reality singing competition TV series ‘The Masked Singer’ which was premiered on January 4, 2020, on ITV.

Rita Ora has been in several relationships. She was in relationship with Rob Kardashian, Calvin Harris, Bruno Mars and Andrew Watts. She started dating director Taika Waititi in 2021. In August 2022, the couple got married.

Her mother is a Catholic, while her father is a Muslim. She considers herself spiritual, rather than religious

In December 2015, she got involved in a dispute with her record label ‘Roc Nation.’ She filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the company, in response to which the company filed a counter lawsuit the next month. They eventually reached a settlement in May 2016.

She considers herself a feminist, and performed at the 'Chime for Change' charity concert in London, which was about female empowerment. Ora, who is a philanthropist, has performed as a special guest on many occasions to raise money for cancer research and to fight Ebola crisis.