Rita Ora Reveals Traumatic Refugee Past

Rita Ora may be riding high in the charts at the minute with latest single ‘R.I.P’, however life has not always been an easy ride, she’s recently revealed to The Sun.

The star has spoken out about her meeting with US rapper Jay Z – and how her life hasn’t always been a bed of roses – no matter how much success she seems to be having at the moment…

The 21 year-old singer, said: “I was singing in bars in London and eventually someone put me in touch with Jay-Z’s right-hand man, Jay Brown. I sent him some music and he asked me to fly to New York. I was two weeks away from my 18th birthday but flew out there on my own. I was so nervous. But the good thing was that I didn’t know I was going to meet Jay-Z that night.”

“If I had known I would have had a heart attack on the way to the airport. It was a surprise. I was told I was meeting his team. I walked into the room and he was there. I was wearing a Run-D.M.C. T-shirt and my hair and feet were wet because it was raining.”

“I was tired and jet-lagged, it was not the ideal moment. I walked in, saw him and thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got to do it’. I just went ‘Hey’ and held out my hand.”

This may have been Rita’s lucky break, however she hasn’t always had luck thrown her way…

Not a lot of people knew that her parents were in fact amongst tens of thousands who fled Kosovo during the Nineties to escape the conflict – once brutal Serbican dictator Slobodan Milosevic had staretd to persecute ethnic Albanians, like Rita’s family – so off the family went, with Rita aged just one…

She says: “I left Kosovo aged one. We were lucky that my mum and dad left early.”

The singer then added that once they’d got to London, none of them could really speak any English, so everything was a re-learning process for all.

“I can speak fluent Albanian because we spoke it in the house. I’ve been back to Kosovo quite a lot. When someone expands to do something out of our country it’s a big deal because there aren’t many opportunities, unfortunately.”

“I wish I could translate Kosovan music into my album. I tried but it doesn’t work yet. I’ll do it though. And I definitely want to play shows over there in the future and raise some money.”