Who is Rita Ora? British singer set to make her debut on The Voice

From breaching Covid-19 restrictions in the UK to being photographed having a three-way kiss in Sydney, new The Voice judge Rita Ora is no stranger to scandals.

Rita Ora is set to make her glamorous debut as a new coach on The Voice this week alongside Guy Sebastian, Keith Urban and Jessica Mauboy.

The 30-year-old jetted to Australia for filming earlier this year after signing a lucrative deal with Channel 7 and while Ora has been a fixture on UK TV screens for years, local audiences may not be quite as familiar with the platinum-selling singer.

With chart-topping hits under her belt, film and TV credits and 16 million fans watching her every move on Instagram, Ora has become a household name but it’s her private life that continues to garner public interest.

Rita Ora is a new judge on The Voice.

The singer performs at Sydney’s Mardi Gras.

From breaching Covid-19 restrictions in the UK to being photographed having a three-way kiss in Sydney, the singer has become synonymous with scandals.

Late last year, Ora came under fire for throwing a birthday bash with 17 guests including model Cara Delevigne at a restaurant in West London during Lockdown.

It was later revealed that she was supposed to be isolating for two weeks at the time that she hosted the party, after having just returned from a trip to Egypt.

In a statement, she conceded that it was a “serious and inexcusable error of judgment” and said she “deserved criticism” for her actions.

Ora is dating Thor director Taika Waititi.

The singer spent several months in Sydney filming The Voice earlier this year.

A few months later, Ora jetted out of UK to Australia to begin filming on The Voice and in May, she made headlines again after photos of her kissing Academy award-winning director Taika Waititi and Hollywood actor Tessa Thompson went viral.

The trio looked worse for wear after “an all-night party at Waititi’s mansion” as they canoodled on a balcony in broad daylight.

Even on holiday, Ora’s no stranger to controversy. Picture: ritaora/Instagram

“I think in the world of the internet, everything goes away pretty quick,” Waititi said of the racy snaps. “And also, ‘Is it that big a deal?’ No, not really. I was doing nothing wrong. It’s fine.”

Ora and Waititi began dating during her trip Down Under and insiders say the pop singer is smitten with the father-of-two.

The singer is no stranger to kissing her celebrity pals.

Ora with Russell Crowe in Sydney. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Ora got her start in 2012.

In 2013, when she was still relatively new to the Hollywood scene, she was pictured kissing supermodel Kate Moss at a party in London and she also had an intimate moment with Delevigne at a separate event.

Ora has been romantically linked to a series of high profile men including Bruno Mars, Kim Kardashian’s younger brother Rob and celebrity DJ Calvin Harris.

Professionally, she has formed high-profile connections and has rubbed shoulders with the likes of former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, Madonna and Mick Jagger.

Her impressive networking skills have landed her gigs with some of the biggest names in music including Ed Sheeran and Jay Z but as those closest to her would recall, before getting her big break, Ora was a little-known aspiring singer who worked in a sneaker shop in Notting Hill.

The singer made headlines when she was spotted shopping at a local Woolworths during her stay in Sydney earlier this year.

Born Rita Sahatçiu in Pristina, Kosovo to parents of Albanian descent, she was reportedly named after her director grandfather’s favourite actor Rita Hayworth.

In 1991, her refugee parents fled Kosovo for London and her pub owner father Besnik changed their last name to Ora as it was easier for people to pronounce.

She attended the prestigious performing arts school Sylvia Young Theatre School, which counts pop star Dua Lipa among its alumni.

The former X Factor UK judge was discovered as a teenager singing at Portobello Road Market in West London.

She signed with a music producer but the deal was short-lived and she decided to try and make it on her own.

The Voice judges Keith Urban, Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian. and Rita Ora.

Ora later dropped out of college to devote herself to her dream of becoming a professional singer and performed at her father’s pub.

“I worked my arse off doing open mics everywhere. Bars, pubs. I wrote songs, went into studios, worked with producers,” she once told the London Evening Standard.

When she was 16, her hard work began to pay off and in 2007 she was featured on a song by British singer Craig David.

The following year, she featured on another track and later qualified but later withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest.

A chance encounter then put her on legendary rapper Jay Z’s radar after they were introduced through a mutual contact and she was eventually signed to his Roc Nation label.

Ora gained prominence in 2012, after collaborating with DJ Fresh on his song Hot Right Now.

She went on to release two studio albums and top ten hits like Your Song and Let You Love Me.

She has had four headlining tours and has dabbled in acting and design, playing Christian Grey’s sister in Fifty Shades of Grey. She previously launched her own fashion collections with Adidas, Giuseppe Zanotti and Escada.