Paula Seling (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈpa.ula ˈseliŋɡ]; born 25 December 1978) is a Romanian singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. She has released more than thirteen albums (including three Christmas albums) and over twenty singles, which include two top-ten hits in the Romanian Top 100, and a minor European hit which entered the charts in Finland and Norway, as well as the UK Singles Chart.
Together with Ovidiu Cernăuțeanu, Seling has represented Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest twice: in 2010 with the song "Playing with Fire", finishing 3rd, and in 2014 with the song "Miracle", finishing 12th.
In 2010 she participated in Dansez Pentru Tine (Romanian "Dancing with the Stars"), finishing 3rd. From October 2011, she was also a juror and mentor in the Romanian version of X Factor.
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Early life
Paula Seling was born in Baia Mare, northwestern Romania, on 25 December 1978. She began playing piano when she was six years old. At the age of 10, she began to sing in the school choir, soon becoming a soloist. She entered a series of piano contests and choral music contests between the ages of 11 and 15, before joining a school band named the Enders as a pianist in 1994.
After graduating from the Gheorghe Șincai National College in Baia Mare in June 1997, she studied journalism at the Școala Superioară de Jurnalism in Bucharest, graduating in 2002.
Career
Early career
In 1995, she won the Best Instrumental Interpreter award at the "Steaua de cristal" (The Crystal Star) Contest in Botoșani, "Ursulețul de aur" (The Golden Teddy Bear) award in Baia Mare, and first place at the "Armonia" (Harmony) Festival in Bucharest.
In 1996, she won the "Aurelian Andreescu" trophy under the guidance of Anda Popp, and made her first performance at the Golden Stag Festival, also appearing in the show Viața de român ("Romanian life"), as a backing vocalist.
In 1997, she opened for Joan Baez, and participated in the Mamaia Trophy with the Romanian-language song "Trurli". She sang on the show Din darul magilor ('From the Magi's Gift') in December 1997.
The following year she released her first album in English, Only Love, recorded at Sound House Records, Germany.
Seling first competed in the Selectia Nationala in 1998, collaborating with band Talisman on the song "Te iubesc", which came 4th with 565 points, finishing 2nd in the jury vote and 6th in the televote. Around the same time, she was named "Woman of the Year" for 1998 by Avantaje magazine.
On 9 November 1998, Seling was the opening act for Chick Corea's concert in Bucharest. Following the concert Seling collaborated with percussionist Lucian Maxim on a project fusing jazz, classical music and old Romanian gypsy music.
In 1999 Seling released her first complete album, entitled De dragoste ("For Love"), a collection of 10 songs composed by Nicu Alifantis. The album included tracks such as "Almost Silence"/"Aproape liniște"; "The Shadow"/"Umbra"; and "How Good That You Exist"/"Ce bine că ești".
2001-2009: Awards and rise to fame
Seling competed in the Mamaia Festival 2001 with her performance of "Ploaie în luna lui marte" (Rain in the Moon of Mars), a cover of a song by Nicu Alifantis, which was named Hit of the Year. Dana Cristescu proposed Alifantis to work on Seling's next album as a composer and producer. "Ploaie în luna lui marte" was chosen to be the first track.
In January 2001 Seling released the album Mă voi întoarce ("I will return"), which included "Lângă mine" (Next to me), a duet with Cristi Enache of Direcția 5.
Paula and Paul Seling worked on the album, Știi ce înseamnă (să fii fericit) ("You know what it means (to be happy)") until the autumn of 2001, collaborating with Cezar Stănciulescu and Cristi Ștefănescu of the band NSK. All the lyrics for the album were written by Paula. Also in 2001, Seling released the album Prima selecție ("First selection"), a collection of live recordings, duets and re-recordings, and collaborated with Puya from La Familia.
As 2001 ended, Seling received the "Best Female Singer" award at the Romanian Music Industry awards. The video for the track "Serile verii" ("Summer evenings") from the Știi ce înseamnă... album, directed by Romanian director Andreea Păduraru, won the awards for Best Artist in a Music Video and Best Music Video at the 2002 MTV Music Awards Romania 2002.
She won the Golden Stag Festival in 2002, and was signed by Roton Records in autumn that year.
In 2002, producer, composer, director and writer Tony Hawks cast Seling in a documentary movie on the Discovery Channel, named "One Hit Wonderland", in which Seling and Hawks recorded one of Hawks's compositions in his studio from London, which was then promoted in the city. They performed the song on Gloria Hunniford's show, Open House with Gloria Hunniford, on Channel 5 in London.
Seling and her husband launched their own record label, Unicorn Records, in 2005. In 2007 she opened for Michael Bolton (7 July) and Beyonce (26 October).
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Cernăuțeanu contacted Seling in November 2009, inviting her to collaborate on an entry to the 2010 Selectia Nationala. They re-recorded the original version of the song "Playing With Fire", and were selected as a finalist for the show on 27 January 2010, and won the competition on 6 March 2010.
Seling and Cernăuțeanu performed "Playing with Fire" live in the second Eurovision Song Contest 2010 semi-final in Oslo on 27 May 2010. They finished 4th in the semi-final to qualify for the final on 29 May 2010, where they finished 3rd, equalling the highest ever ranking for Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Post-Eurovision career and reality TV work
In 2010, Seling joined the Romanian televised dance competition Dansez pentru tine (the Romanian version of Dancing With the Stars) with her partner Tudor Moldoveanu. The pair came third in the competition. Seling was the co-host of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Romanian national final, held on New Year's Eve night on TVR 1, along with Cernăuțeanu and Marina Almasan-Socaciu. She also provided the Romanian voice for Holley Shiftwell in Cars 2 in 2011.
In early 2011, Seling released a new song, "I Feel Free". In April 2011, Romanian TV station Antena 1 (part of the Intact Media Group) announced that the British reality TV music contest X Factor would come to Romania, and in early June, it was announced that Seling would be one of three judges on the show.
In late 2011, Seling recorded duets with Alexander Ryback, Ovi Cernăuțeanu and Al Bano, for inclusion alongside "I Feel Free" and another at least eight songs on a new album due in 2012. In February 2012, it was reported that Seling would return to Selectia Nationala 2012, in order to represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. However, she later announced that the song she was preparing for the contest wasn't ready, and would instead be entered for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. She was the spokesperson for Romania and presented the votes during the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.
In 2013, Seling began endorsing a Romanian moisturising cream, Gerovital. The brand Loncolor asked Seling to become their brand ambassador in 2012, representing LONCOLOR enVogue 535.
In 2012, Selling was chosen by Disney to record the song "My Spirit Flies" ("Chiar pot zbura"), for the Pixar animation Brave.
In August 2012, she released a single with Alexander Rybak called "I'll Show You".
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
On 1 March 2014, Paula Seling and Ovi Cernăuțeanu again won the Selectia Nationala, and were chosen as the Romanian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, with the song "Miracle". Seling and Cernăuțeanu performed "Miracle" live in the second semi-final on 8 May 2014. They qualified from the semi-finals, and finished 12th in the final on 10 May 2014.
Personal life
Seling married Radu Bucura in 2005; the two had known each other since their teenage years, and he was later the drummer in Dana Nălbaru's band. In 2022, Seling announced that she and Bucura had adopted a daughter, Elena, several years earlier; Elena was three years old at the time of the adoption. The couple later divorced after 17 years of marriage, but continue to co-parent their daughter.
A Romanian Orthodox Christian, Seling is anti-abortion and attended the March for Life in Bucharest in March 2016.
Seling speaks, writes, and performs in French, English, and Romanian; she also performs in Italian.