Gergana (Bulgarian singer)


Gergana Georgieva Katsarska is a Bulgarian pop-folk singer, often referred to as "the Barbie doll of pop-folk". Her early career was marked by the runaway success of her debut single "Губя те бавно" followed by a best-selling debut album.

Life and career

1984–2002: Early life

Gergana was born on November 30, 1984 in Dimitrovgrad, to Lilyana and Georgi Katsarski but grew up with her grandparents in Govedartsi. She has an older sister named Lazarina. Her cousin is popular soccer player Stoyko Sakaliev. Gergana completed her secondary education at the Dimitrovgrad Music School, where she specialized in Pop Singing. On prom night, Gergana was among the selected students who performed in front of the entire class. A recording of that performance brought producer Todor Dimitrov – Tokicha's attention on Gergana and in 2003, she signed with Payner Music.

2003: First steps and greatest success

Gergana's star rises in the fall of 2003, when her first single "Губя те бавно" became a runaway success.
Her eponymous debut album "Губя те бавно" was released in the end of 2003 to become one of the best selling albums of 2003 and 2004 having sold over 70,000 copies. In the summer of 2004 Gergana recorded her first duet song "For you, love" with her then good friend Anelia.

2004–2005: ''Както Никой Друг'' and ''Сини Очи''

In late 2004, she released her second studio album "Както Никой Друг", which was dedicated to her mother, who died on September 30, 2004 due to cancer. The album did very well in charts, selling over 40,000 copies in 2004. The leading single "Боли" was simultaneously released in two versions with separate music videos. The song "Последна Вечер" was released as a second single in the summer of 2004. In the summers of 2004 and 2005, Gergana participated in the national summer tour of Payner, "Planeta Prima".
On December 16, 2005 Gergana released her third studio album called "Сини Очи". It sold 20,000 copies and was ranked 5th in Best-selling album of 2005 charts. The singer shot music videos for both versions of the leading song "Сини Очи", following the strategy of her second album. In Spring, Gergana released a new single, "Някой Ден, Може Би". In Spring 2006 Gergana shot a video to the song "Сладката Страна На Нещата" in the Graf Ignatievo air base. Music videos for "До Утре" and "Искам Само Любовта Ти" ("I Only Want Your Love" followed. She also took part for the third time in the summer tour of Payner Music.

2006–2007: 'The sweet side of things"'

On February 14, 2007 she releases her fourth studio album "Sweet Side Of Things," which contains 10 new songs. Just weeks after the album sold over 5,000 copies. First released song "Карма" is presented as a chat program on New Year's TV Planeta. The video was released almost simultaneously with the new album. On April 20 she releases the video of "Una Passión", the first song performed by Gergana in a foreign language, in this case Spanish. Summer of 2007, for the fourth consecutive year, she participates in the national tour of Payner Music. At the same time she released a new song "Може Би Точно Ти", which features new hip-hop singer Zhoro Rapa.

2008–2014: ''Post-Tokicha era: New Singles & Hiatus''

After a short break in early 2008 Gergana issued duet song "Забрави", which has partnered with Zhoro Rapa. July 2008 she releases the video for "Върви Си", which combines computer animation with 3D effects. Gergana for the first time not participated in the tour Payner Music, but at the expense of singing in over 20 cities as part of a tour Bulsatcom advertising. In early 2009 released the video for "Защото Те Обичам," which was presented at the Seventh Annual Music Awards of Planeta TV. On the occasion of March 8 Gergana recorded a song dedicated to her mother, "Благодаря Ти", and premiered on Planeta TV on 15 April 2009. On 21 September 2009 she releases the video for "Имам Нужда " where she shot her boyfriend, and on December 24 she releases video for "To When". In mid-May 2010 expires on the internet song "Нова Любов". Gergana failed to shoot video of this song, but instead, at the end of the same month the singer releases the video for the song "Да Започнем От Средата", which became a summer hit as fans of the show on Planet TV "Folkmaraton." On October 29, 2010 released the video for the song "Facebook", which in the words of Gergana is dedicated global network Facebook, where she meets many friends.
On December 30, 2010 she releases the video for the ballad "Който Иска Да Вярва", and on June 3, 2011 appears a new single called "Първичен инстинкт," a joint project with her friend Galin, with the video of the song. On December 20, Gergana performed her new song "Ще Издържиш Ли?" at the presentation of her colleague and friend Preslava's album "Как ти стои".
On June 21, 2012, after a year-long opause she presents the video for her new single – "Мирис На Любов". On November 26, 2012 is presented the video for the second duet with Galin – "Вкусът Остава". On December 14, 2012 Gergana's label presents its latest compilation "The Golden Hits of Payner" with "The best of Gergana" released under #4.
On February 26, 2013, Gergana performed a medley of rock remixes of her greatest hits at the 11th Annual Music Awards of Planeta TV.

2015–present: ''Comeback & Media Scandal''

After one year with no new single, on January 5, 2015, Gergana releases a new single and video – Твоите Думи, featuring Galin. It debuts at number 29 on the weekly chart of Signal BG – "Best 50", 6 days after its release. Next week, it climbed to number 4 on the chart. Same week, the song debuted at number 4 on the weekly chart of Radio Veselina. On its third week the song climbed to number 3. After a few weeks in top 5, "Твоите Думи" climbed to number 2. It also debuted at number 12 on the meloman.bg's Pop-Folk Chart. It climbed to number 6 on its second week. After a few weeks in top 10, on the week of 2 February the song topped the chart and stayed for one week.
On 9 February, a Bulgarian reality TV show Gospodari na Efira, revealed that backvocals of the song are from British- Palestinian hip-hop singer Shadia Mansour's song "Kollon 3endon Dababaat", whose lyrics concern the tragedies of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The song was immediately pulled and lead to a public apology from the singer and her record label.
In late 2015, Gergana unexpectedly released a ballad named "Ogan v Dazhda" on Planeta TV's annual Christmas Eve programme. The music video for the song premiered on 8 January 2016 on the official YouTube channel of her producer company – PlanetaOfficial.

Awards

Albums

Tours