Elaiza
Elaiza is a German band from Berlin that represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with their song "Is It Right". The leader of the group is Elżbieta "Ela" Steinmetz. She was born in Ukraine and is of mixed Polish and Ukrainian origin as her mother comes from Poland and her father is from Ukraine. This cultural background is reflected in the sound of her songs.
Career
Early beginnings
At the age of 16 Steinmetz began to work as a singer-songwriter at Valicon-Studios, Berlin. At the recording studio she met accordionist Yvonne Grünwald. At some event Grünwald saw a photo of Natalie Plöger with her string bass, and Plöger was invited to play with them.2013: Formation
Early in 2013 the three women founded the band Elaiza. At Emil Berliner Studios Elaiza produced in March 2013 the LP "March 28" via direct-to-disk recording. The record was named after the date of recording and was published by the label Berliner Meister Schallplatten. Since then the band applied itself to the production of its debut album, which is in progress in collaboration with the Valicon-producer team at Berlin. In 2013 the band won the newcomer award at the famous Women-of-the-World-Festival. In January 2014 Elaiza released an EP with the songs Is It Right, Fight Against Myself and Without.Members
- Elżbieta "Ela" Steinmetz — vocals, piano
- Laura Zimmermann — string bass, backings
- Yvonne Grünwald — accordion, Glockenspiel, backing vocals. Grünwald left the band in August 2016 to pursue other music projects.
Discography