The prima donna of Slovenian pop music has enraptured large audiences at home and abroad with her exceptional voice, professional attitude and star-like charisma. Her extraordinarily rich career holds a special place for superbly performed compositions based on traditional melodic and enriched with her recognizable personal singing style. Helena Blagne made her first public appearance as a twelve-year-old girl at an amateur competition First Voice of Gorenjska. The success she achieved with the song Santa Lucia was responsible for her decision to become a professional singer. In 1986 she began her journey to fame and success. She received first the prizes from both the audience and the professional jury at the Macedonian festival Makfest with the song Ko te ni. Only a year later she was awarded the first prize by the audience at Split Festival for her song Morje, ljubezen moja. She became a regular guest and winner at most important festivals in former Yugoslavia. She has been attracting international audiences since 1987-88, when she performed at a Mediterranean festival in Turkey and toured Canada, USA and Australia. In 1989 she was again chosen as the winner of Melodije morja in sonca Festival; she sang her song Vrniva se na najino obalo in a duet with the then leading singer of popular and operatic music N. Junkar. Three years later she confirmed her connection with Slovenian audiences when she received the first prize by the audience at Melodije morja in sonca Festival with her song Moj mornarček. Following Slovenia’s attainment of independence, Helena turned toward European audiences. In 1999 she literally swept away the competition at Eurofest Festival with her song Io sono sola – she receives the audience award, the first place by the professional jury, the award for best performance and the most prestigious of all awards, the grand prix. Due to acknowledgments at international festivals and her successful journey in music she was chosen in Athens as vice-president of international jury M. C. N. M. (Mediterranean Collaboration of New Musicians) and I. I. W. M. C. (International Institute of Woman Musical Creativity), the president of which is Stathis Purkologlou. Helena was at the peak of her career. Her concerts were sold out in a matter of days, her records turned gold, platinum and diamond. Despite all her success she did not rest on her laurels. Following a twelve-year long intensive study of opera singing with one of the most noted Slovenian opera singer and teacher Ksenja Vidali Žebre, she began working on an album including the most beautiful opera arias of the world. The exacting creative process continued, permeated with feelings and love – for music and for the audience she so immensely respects. In the fall of 2006 she expands her artistic activities to include theatre, as Vito Taufer, one of the most successful Slovenian theatre directors, entrusted her with the role of Agava in a spectacle staging of Euripides’ play The Bacchae. Helena Blagne is and will remain a unique and exceptional star of Slovenian musical scene, whose past and future artistic guidelines stick to the highest quality. Data confirms the fact that her audience appreciates and recognizes her quality as well: according to record sales, Helena Blagne is the most successful Slovenian singer of all times, as she has so far sold over a million and a half records at home and abroad. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.