Brilliant Dadaşova

Brilliant Dadaşova — Biography

Brilliant Dadashova is one of the best-known voices of Azerbaijani pop music, and has also worked as a pianist and television presenter. She was named Honored Artist of Azerbaijan in 1998 and People's Artist in 2008. Born in Baku, her birth year is given as either 1965 or 1959 depending on the source. In Turkey she is best known for the song "Bayatılar", and she still performs today.

She first appeared on stage in 1985 at the International Youth Festival in Moscow, and two years later won the All-Union pop singers' contest, in which performers from the Soviet republics competed. She acted in the 1988 film Yaramaz and graduated from the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts in 1990. Her real breakthrough abroad came in the 1990s: in 1995 "Züleyha" reached the Russian top ten most-played tracks, and she took part in a collaboration with the Norwegian choir SKRUK singing Azerbaijani folk songs. In 1999 she was elected to the Baku city council.

From 2001 to 2006 she hosted her own talk show on Space TV, and since September 2006 she has been involved in the broadcast Akademiya, which aims to prepare talented young people for the stage. Her albums include Sevəcəyəm (1994), Dərdimdən öləcəksən (1998), Səninləyəm (2002), dedicated to the memory of composer Rafig Babayev, and Masal Dünyam (2008), released in Azerbaijan and Turkey. In 2021 she released "Per Sempre" with Adriano Celentano. She has given concerts in the USA, Germany, the UK, Sweden, Canada, Russia and Turkey.