Rita Sahatçiu Ora (born Rita Sahatçiu; 26 November 1990) is a British singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in February 2012 when she featured on DJ Fresh's single "Hot Right Now", which reached number one in the UK. 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.
In January 2014, Adidas announced a designer collaboration with Ora for their brand, Adidas Originals. Her second studio album, Phoenix, was released in November 2018. The lead single, "Your Song", reached the UK top ten, and the subsequent singles, "Anywhere" and "Let You Love Me", reached the top five in the UK; the latter single made Ora the first British female solo artist to have thirteen top ten songs in the United Kingdom.
Ora was born in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Kosovo), to Albanian parents. Her mother, Vera (née Bajraktari), is a psychiatrist, and her father, Besnik Sahatçiu, is a pub owner, having previously studied economics.Ora has an older sister, Elena, and a younger brother, Don.She was born as Rita Sahatçiu (pronounced [sahatˈtʃiu]; surname derived from the Turkish word, saatçi, which means "watchmaker"), but her parents later added Ora (which means "time" in Albanian) to the family surname so it could be easily pronounced.
Her family left Kosovo for political reasons, because of the persecution of Albanians initiated with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. They relocated to London, England in 1991, when she was a year old.She grew up in Notting Hill, in West London, and attended St Cuthbert with St Matthias Primary School in Earls Court, following which she graduated from a performing arts school, Sylvia Young Theatre School. She began singing at an early age
