Rita Sahatçiu Ora is a British singer, fashion designer and actress who rose to prominence in February 2012 when she was featured on DJ Fresh’s single, “Hot Right Now”, which reached number one in the UK.
She was born in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Kosovo) to Albanian parents. Her mother, Vera is a psychiatrist, and her father, Besnik Sahatçiu, is an economist and a pub owner. Ora speaks Albanian and her mother is Catholic and her father Muslim.
When asked about her religion, Ora said that she doesn’t consider herself religious, but “more of a spiritual person.” She also considers herself a feminist.
Her family left Kosovo for political reasons, because of the persecution of ethnic Albanians initiated with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. They relocated to London, England in 1991, when she was a year old.
Her debut studio album, Ora, released in August 2012, debuted at number one in the United Kingdom. The album contained the UK number-one singles, “R.I.P.” and “How We Do (Party)”. Ora was the artist with the most number-one singles on the UK Singles Chart in 2012, with three consecutive singles reaching the top position.
On 15 November 2014, Ora joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa. On 14 November 2015, Ora performed during half-time at David Beckham’s UNICEF charity “Match for Children” held at Old Trafford, Manchester and in March 2016, she gave a speech on immigration and the Syrian refugee crisis at the We Day UK event in London, organised by Free the Children.
