After being signed, Ora recorded an album and wanted to release it, but her label advised against it and she started to work on other material for her debut album. She made a cameo appearance in Jay Z's video for ' Young Forever' (2009). Ora signed a recording deal and a publishing deal with Roc Nation in December 2008, and was one of their first signees. Shortly after, Ora's management got in touch with the American label, Roc Nation, and told them about her. In 2008, she auditioned for Eurovision: Your Country Needs You on BBC One to be the British contestant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and qualified, but later withdrew from the competition after a few episodes as she 'did not feel ready' and thought 'that challenge wasn't for her.' Her manager, Sarah Stennett (who also worked with Ellie Goulding, Jessie J and Conor Maynard), later told HitQuarters that she reassured Ora that performing in Eurovision would hinder, rather than help her chances to make it as a solo artist. Ora began performing at open mic sessions around London and, occasionally, in her father's pub. Music career 2008–2011: Career beginnings She grew up in Notting Hill, in West London, and attended a performing arts school, Sylvia Young Theatre School. They relocated to London, England in 1991, when she was a baby. Her family left Kosovo for political reasons, because of the persecution of Albanians initiated with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. She was born as Rita Sahatçiu ( pronounced surname derived from the Turkish word saatçi, which means 'watchmaker'), but her parents later added Ora ( ora means 'time' in Albanian) to the family surname so it could be easily pronounced. Ora has an older sister, Elena, and a younger brother, Don.

Her mother, Vera ( née Bajraktari), is a psychiatrist and her father, Besnik Sahatçiu, is a pub owner, having previously studied economics.

Ora was born on 26 November 1990 in Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia (modern-day Kosovo), to Albanian parents.

2.3 2014–2016: Split from Roc Nation and other projects.

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