| B i o g r a p h y |
Inna (born Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu
in October 16, 1986) is a Romanian singer and dancer. Her music is
written by Play & Win members Sebastian Barac, Radu Bolfea and
Marcel Botezan. She is best known for becoming the first European female
singer to surpass one billion total views on YouTube, having
accomplished this milestone in February 2012.
Inna's debut studio album, Hot, was an international success, appearing
in many record charts around the world, and particularly popular in the
United Kingdom where it reached number one. The album's lead single of
the same name charted worldwide, topping in 2009 a United States
year-end chart. The song won the award for the MTV Europe Music Award
for Best Romanian Act at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards. It got Gold
music recording sales certification in Italy, 3× Platinum in Norway and
Platinum in Spain.
Inna's second studio album, I Am the Club Rocker, was produced by Play
& Win and received the Romanian Album of the Year award from her
label Roton. Her third studio album, Party Never Ends was released in
March 2013 and reached the 10 in Mexico.
She has won numerous awards, including two MTV Europe Music Awards and
over thirteen awards in three consecutive years at the MTV Romania Music
Awards. As of May 2011, Inna has sold over 100,000 albums and over
600,000 singles in the United Kingdom. At the end of 2011 Inna became
the richest recording artist in Romania and in Eastern Europe. Her net
worth is over 10 million euro. As of April 2014, she has sold over 3
million copies of her 3 studio albums.
Inna has been compared to Shakira, Rihanna, Britney Spears, and Lady
Gaga. In her teens, Inna performed with a pop rock band that did not
achieve much success. Her first recordings are the ballads and soft
pop/rock songs "Goodbye", "Sorry" and the Romanian language song "Oare"
(Really), which were not released until her later success.
After meeting the producers making up Play & Win, her musical style
changed radically. Dance and club songs became her most frequent
recordings. In an interview with Adevărul, the singer stated that "Hot"
is "an up-beat house song with club beats and it is very commercial."
She performed all of her singles live and unplugged in countries such as
Poland, Belgium, France and Spain. On December 1, during the Romanian
National day, Inna gave a live performance of traditional Romanian songs
and the military anthem "Treceţi Batalioane Române Carpaţii". Inna's
second album, I Am the Club Rocker, contains more down-midtempo songs
than the previous Hot, with songs like "Put Your Hands Up" or "Endless".
The album also contains a tropical—flavored track "Un Momento" which is
Inna's first movement toward R&B music. On December 1, 2011, Inna
covered the song "Mai frumoasa", a classic pop song in Romania,
originally performed by Laura Stoica.