She landed a record deal while still a teenager, and soon became a regular on the showbiz party circuit.
Now Rita Ora is set to make her primetime television debut — as the newest coach on BBC talent show The Voice.
The 23-year-old pop star will fill the gap left by Kylie Minogue’s departure earlier this year, it was announced on Thursday.
It is believed she will earn around £500,000 (Dh3 million) for the series, joining returning coaches Will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and the Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson.
Ora may now be a successful singer worth an estimated £1.2million, but she arrived in Britain as a refugee. Born in Kosovo, she and her family fled their homeland to escape the Balkan war when she was just one year old.
Recalling her family’s plight in a 2012 interview, she said: “My mum and dad did the right thing and made the decision to move me to London.
“My mum never knew how to speak English... While she was raising us she was learning how to speak English — she’s like superwoman.”
The daughter of a psychiatrist and a pub landlord, Ora was educated at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, where her teachers noticed she had a talent for singing.
She was signed to Jay Z’s record label, Roc Nation, at the age of 18, going on to have a string of number one hits.
Ora is also a regular at celebrity parties, often pictured with model Cara Delevingne, who is a close friend.
Announcing her appointment to The Voice’s judging panel, BBC One controller Charlotte Moore said the singer was chosen for her “unique sense of style and no-nonsense attitude”.
