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BIOGRAPHY

Galina Peneva Ivanova, better known for her artistic pseudonym Gloria, is a Bulgarian pop-folk singer often referred as the Prima of the Bulgarian pop-folk music. She is born on 28th of June 1973 in the city of Ruse. Gloria was awarded as Performer of the Year for 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003 and also Performer of the Decade in 2007. She is also the only pop-folk singer with four solo concerts held at the biggest venue in the country (Hall 1 at the National Palace of Culture) in 2000, 2003, 2009 and 2015. Her debut album ‘Happiness is Magic’ (1994) was greatly received and sold in 170 000 legal copies. The pirate copies are estimated to exceed half a million. The same year Gloria was awarded as Discovery of the Year by the national newspaper ’24 Hours’. In 1996 she and her then partner Iliya Zagorov had their daughter Simona Zagorova. Gloria is the first singer signed by the popular music label Payner. Up until now she has 14 albums, 4 compilations, 11 video albums and over 120 video clips.

Albums:

  • Happiness is Magic (1994)
  • For Good or Evil (1995)
  • Angel with a Devil Soul (1996)
  • Nostalgia (1997)
  • One Hundred Percent Woman (1998)
  • 12 Diamonds (2000)
  • Illusion (2001)
  • Fortress (2003)
  • In Love with Life (2005)
  • Thanks (2007)
  • I Need You (2011)
  • Paths (2013)
  • Sand Towers (2015)
  • Love Insists (2019)
  • The Best (2026)
  • Bulgaria is Alive (2026)

Compilations

  • The best (1999)
  • 10 Years (2004)
  • 15 Years of Golden Hits (2009)
  • Gloria’s Golden Hits (2012)

Video albums

  • Gloria Best Video Selection 1 (2003)
  • Fortress – Live (DVD) (2003)
  • Gloria Best Video Selection 2 (2007)
  • 15 Years of Golden Hits – Live (2010)
  • Gloria Best Video Selection 3 (2012)
  • 20 Years on Stage (2016)

Awards

  • NEW FOLK, Hit of the Year “100% Woman” 1998.
  • NEW FOLK, Singer of the Year 1998.
  • NEW FOLK, Outstanding Achievement 1998.
  • NEW FOLK, Singer of the Year 1999.
  • NEW FOLK, Singer of the Year 2000.
  • NEW FOLK, Outstanding Achievement 2001.
  • NEW FOLK, Illusion Album of the Year 2001.
  • NEW FOLK, For outstanding achievements 2002.
  • NEW FOLK, Video of the Year “Fortress” 2003.
  • NEW FOLK, Album of the Year “Fortress” 2003.
  • NEW FOLK, Singer of the Year 2003.
  • NEW FOLK, Best Live Performance 2004.
  • NEW FOLK, Song of the Year “Verdict” 2004.
  • NEW FOLK, Duet of the Year “We are not sinless” Gloria and Azis 2004
  • NEW FOLK, For outstanding achievements 2005.
  • NEW FOLK, Success Abroad 2005.
  • NEW FOLK, Song of the Year 2007.
  • NEW FOLK, Singer of the Decade 1998-2008.
  • NEW FOLK, Fortress Video of the Decade 1998-2008.
  • NEW FOLK, For contribution to the development of pop-folk, journalists’ award 2008.
  • NEW FOLK, Best Live Performance 2009.
  • NEW FOLK, Continuity between authentic and new folk 2010.
  • NEW FOLK, Continuity between authentic and new folk 2011.
  • Annual Music Awards Planeta TV 2002.
  • Annual Music Awards Planeta TV 2007.
  • Annual Music Awards Planeta TV 2009.
  • Annual Music Awards Planeta TV 2011.
  • Annual Music Awards Planeta TV 2013.
  • Hit Cocktail, Annual Music Awards, Overall Creativity and Contribution 1998.
  • Trakia Folk, First Audience Award 1999.
  • Trakia Folk, First Audience Award 2000.
  • Golden Mustang Festival, Pop-folk video Illusion 2001.
  • Pirin Folk 2005 – Award for Contribution to the Development of Bulgarian Music 2005.
  • Radio Romance, Love Song of 2007.
  • Star of the magazine “Shine” 2008.
  • Radio Romance, Love Artist of 2011.
  • Special Award 15 years of Piner Music for the most fruitful collaboration
  • Eleven Club, Music Idol 2018.
  • “25 years in our hearts” – Fan Club Award

The year 2025 for the queen of pop-folk, Gloria, begins already at the end of December 2024, when she announces a special musical gift for the upcoming New Year. Together with Neli Rangelova, Drago Draganov, Stefan Ilchev, and Simona Zagorova, she presents the song “New Year” — a warm and emotional message that becomes the soundtrack of New Year’s Eve and a symbolic beginning of 2025.
With the arrival of the New Year, Gloria is among the stars of Bulgarian National Television’s festive program “Bulgaria on Two Balls,” once again proving that her presence on stage is an inseparable part of the nation’s holiday spirit.
At the beginning of January, the singer shares another major announcement — her first-ever joint concert with Serbian superstar Dragana Mirković. The grand event is scheduled for November 1 at Kolodrum Hall in Plovdiv and immediately sparks tremendous interest among audiences.
On February 14, the day of love, Gloria offers her fans yet another emotional encounter — the premiere of the concert spectacle “A Musical Fairytale,” filmed during her jubilee concert in 2024 at the National Palace of Culture. The project reinforces the sense of scale, class, and deep emotional connection with the audience that has defined her entire career.
The year continues at a dynamic pace with numerous performances across the country. In March, Gloria surprises her fans with a series of new musical releases — “I Choose Love,” the duet “Turn Up One of Ours” with Toni Storaro, and “Rebirth,” created in collaboration with Dani Milev. Each song carries its own unique energy, yet all are united by Gloria’s unmistakable presence and heartfelt message.
In April, Gloria travels to Egypt, where the photos she shares subtly hint at the filming of a new music video, adding an exotic dimension to her visual universe. May is dedicated to a brief getaway to Paris — the city of love — which naturally complements the singer’s elegance and artistic aura.
On the eve of her birthday, June 27, Gloria releases the new song “Life in Colors,” followed shortly by the powerful hit “She Doesn’t Ask,” whose music video is filmed in Egypt. On June 28, the queen of pop-folk celebrates her birthday with a spectacular concert at the Summer Theatre in Varna, filled to capacity with the love and devotion of her fans.
Summer and autumn unfold with an intense concert schedule, highlighted by a memorable performance on the same stage with Serbian legend Miroslav Ilić — a meeting rich in symbolism and mutual respect across generations and cultures
Throughout the year, Gloria also achieves an important personal victory, successfully defending her name and reputation in court against defamatory publications. This stands as a testament not only to her strength as an artist but also to her integrity as a person for whom truth and dignity matter.
The climax of the autumn season comes with the long-anticipated concert with Dragana Mirković in November — an event that fills the hall to capacity and remains unforgettable thanks to their emotional joint performance of the song “Oprosti za sve.”
At the end of the year, Gloria visits Rome and Italy — places that seem tailor-made for her style and presence. She closes 2025 at full speed, actively preparing a new album and premiering her latest song “In the Silence,” leaving audiences with the clear sense that the very best is yet to come.

The year 2024 for the queen of pop-folk, Gloria, begins in a festive and glamorous way. She welcomes the New Year with a spectacular performance at the International Hotel in Golden Sands, surrounded by her closest people, bidding farewell to the past year with gratitude and stepping into the new one with confidence and inspiration.
As early as January 2, Gloria makes a major announcement — a grand concert marking 30 years on stage, scheduled for June 28, her birthday, at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture. The news sparks an emotional wave among her fans and quickly becomes one of the most anticipated musical events of the year, symbolizing a long, successful, and deeply loved career.
The year unfolds with numerous performances and appearances across the country, alongside the intense and meticulous preparation for the jubilee concert. In February, Gloria announces another significant event — a joint performance with Serbian superstar Dragana Mirković at Kaloyanova Fortress, set to take place on October 19, immediately drawing strong public interest.
On March 8, Gloria appears as a special guest on the TV show Na Kafe, alongside her beloved mother Stefka Peneva, her daughter Simona Zagorova, and her granddaughter Galina, celebrating International Women’s Day in a warm and deeply personal moment that resonates with viewers.
During the spring, her duet with Ustata, “Buy Me Something, Darling,” reaches an impressive two million views, establishing itself as one of the most talked-about and beloved projects of the season.
Summer brings another exciting announcement — a concert for fans in Plovdiv at the Bunardzhika Summer Theatre, part of the jubilee tour “A Musical Fairytale – 30 Years on Stage.” In June, Gloria also releases the song “Music Is a Remedy,” a special collaboration with Dragan Kojić Keba and her daughter Simona Zagorova, both of whom become special guests at the Plovdiv concert.
On June 27, the day before her birthday, Gloria delights her fans once again with the premiere of a new song titled “EGO.”
The undeniable highlight of the year comes on June 28, when Gloria celebrates her birthday exactly where she feels most alive — on stage. The jubilee concert “A Musical Fairytale – 30 Years on Stage” at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture turns into a true musical celebration, filled with emotion, grandeur, and love. Joining her on stage are some of her most iconic duet partners — Azis, Toni Dacheva, Niki Slaveev, among others — transforming the evening into an unforgettable experience for both the audience and the artist herself.
On November 21, “A Musical Fairytale” continues its journey in the city of Ruse at Arena Ruse, where Gloria once again meets her audience together with the Dani Milev Band and special guests Toni Storaro, Ustata, and Simona Zagorova.
Thus, 2024 remains in Gloria’s history as one of the most emotional, grand, and significant years of her career — a year of jubilees, powerful messages, remarkable musical encounters, and boundless love from her audience.

The year for the Prima of pop-folk Gloria begins with the broadcast of her new duet with Keba “Back to Paradise” on Dragana Mirkovic’s Serbian TV – DM SAT. After that, she took a well-deserved rest with her daughter Simona Zagorova and friends, passing through Madrid and reaching the Dominican Republic, delighting her fans with warm photos during the otherwise winter season in Bulgaria. After returning from abroad, Gloria continued the year with numerous appearances in all the major cities of the country and became the advertising face of Pulse gyms, publishing an advertisement with her in the gym.

On her birthday, June 28, Gloria decided to surprise the audience together with her colleague Toni Dacheva, performing her second duet, entitled “Star of the Evening”, with lyrics by Marieta Angelova and music by Kalin Dimitrov.

On the same day, Gloria also released a second premiere song dedicated to her loyal fans. Titled “The Best”, with lyrics by Marieta Angelova and music by Andrean Stefanov – Andro, the song expresses Gloria’s love and gratitude to her fans who have always been by her side over the years. With this musical gift, she once again proves that they are truly “the best”.

She celebrated her anniversary with her family in Venice, where she visited the hotel where the movie “The Tourist” with Johnny Depp was filmed.

Another long-awaited surprise on this day, when Gloria celebrates her personal anniversary, is the announcement of her upcoming concert on June 28, 2024, entitled “Musical Fairy Tale”, which will mark 30 years on stage.

Summer passes into work and stolen moments of rest at the beach, only to fall when Gloria announces that there are three surprises for her fans – three new music videos.

The end of November turns out to be loaded with musical surprises from Gloria, as she delights her fans with new songs and videos in three consecutive days. The first day of this music marathon begins with the title “Wolf”, full of strong energy and intensity, in which Greek music is masterfully woven, with rights purchased especially for this project, and an arrangement by the talented Lenko Draganov.

The following day, November 29, Gloria wowed audiences with her new music video for the song “The Best”, where she not only performs the song, but is also filmed alongside her most die-hard fans, showcasing their loyalty and support over 30 years your career.

The end of this music festival is on November 30, when Gloria and Ustata present the video for their duet “Honey, buy me something”. Value collaboration becomes a visual experience that captures the hearts of viewers.

The New Year for Gloria passes with a performance at the “International” Hotel on Golden Sands in the city of Varna, together with her team, her husband and close friends, once again impressing everyone with her incomparable talent and passion for music. Thus, Gloria ends the year in a brilliant way with her musical vision to light up the stage and stir the hearts of her audience.

2022 year Gloria starts again with spectacular success, receiving the prestigious plaque from YouTube for reaching the impressive 100,000 subscribers. Her biographical book, Until the Last Smile, also achieved success overseas, reaching readers as far away as Arizona.

In January, Gloria participated in the program “This Saturday and Sunday” on BTV, where she presented two of her favorite healthy recipes in Simona Zagorova’s column. Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” is impressive.

In parallel, Gloria published a behind-the-scenes of her Serbian song “Danas mi je dan”, filmed in the studio of the Serbian TV station DM SAT of the star and her idol – Dragana Mirkovic.

In February, Gloria gets involved in another fascinating and different project for her – the theatrical performance “You Made Me Crazy”. On the stage of FKA Varna, she collaborated with outstanding artists such as Kiril Efremov, Ruslan Mynov and Maria Sapundjieva.

On February 25, the birthday of Gloria’s granddaughter Galina, the family also celebrated her holy baptism.

In March, at the 5th annual LIFESTYLE AWARDS, Gloria was awarded an award for “Overall Contribution to Bulgarian Music”.

In April, Gloria started the month with numerous appearances, including the premiere television show on BTV by professional chef Sylvena Rowe. Again in the center of attention on the television air, Gloria is a guest in the show “Like two drops of water” on Nova Television, due to the reincarnation of her colleague Esile Duran. There she appeared as Gloria herself, performing the hit “We Are Not Sinless”.

At the beginning of June, Gloria presents three premier folk songs on three consecutive days – 13, 14, 15.06. The first is a duet with the folk singer Nikolay Slaveev, including a collaboration with Gamzata – “Gradil Iliya Kiliya”. Next comes “Don’t be sad, girl” with text by Katerina Kiryanova, and “Merak” with text by Gloria and Marieta Angelova, and all of them are presented through magnificent TV versions, filmed in the beautiful nature of the Motherland. The climax of June comes on the 24th, when the music world comes alive with the premiere of the first duet between Gloria and Tony Storaro. The song “Just perfect” is written by Gloria and Marieta Angelova, presented with a clip filmed at the “Grand Hotel Astoria” under the masterful direction of Lucy Ilarionov.

On July 7, Gloria conquered the stage of the Bunardjika Summer Theater in the city under the hills – Plovdiv. In the company of Ballet Fame, her daughter Simona Zagorova and Nikolay Slaveev, she created magic under the surprising rain shower in the background of her song “Love Rain”. Despite the weather, Gloria has once again proven herself to be a steadfast professional, capturing the hearts of her fans with her unwavering energy and passion for music.

At the end of August, Gloria was invited to take part in the 30th anniversary of the “Pirin Folk” festival in the city of Sandanski. As part of the event, which presents original songs with Macedonian folk roots, she performed live some of her original songs, such as “Bulgarka”, “Don’t be sad, girl” and “Song for friends”, in addition to “Zaidi, Come in” and “Ah, where’s my love”.

During the summer, Gloria indulged in a well-deserved break, visiting Italy and Greece while participating in several concert events. In September, she presented a version with a new arrangement by Kalin Dimitrov and guest musician Spas Lazarov of her big hit “Ice Queen”, which was created with music by Iliya Zagorov and lyrics by Gloria herself.

In early November, Gloria revealed her summer adventure in Rome with the premiere of her new pop-sounding ballad “Velvet.” This single is a brand new collaboration, with lyrics and direction by Alexandrina Valenti and music by Dani Manolova. The video, which combines the beauty of the city with the aesthetics of Gloria, was realized with the cameraman Radoslav Georgiev.

Gloria ends the year with a huge surprise – an unexpected duet with Serbian big star Dragan Koic – Keba. She and Keba present the song “Back to Paradise” / “JAČE, JAČE”, which became a total hit in the moment of its premiere, combining Bulgarian and Serbian languages ​​in one exciting musical experience.

Gloria ended a colorful year full of new musical masterpieces, and on the eve of 2023 she sang at the Shelby Center in London, among her many fans from abroad and loved ones.

At the very beginning of 2021, Gloria thanked the doctors of the Military Medical Academy for their care and professionalism, strengthening her faith in medicine and the importance of health.

The greatest joy for Gloria came on February 25 with the birth of her granddaughter Galina, daughter of Simona Zagorova. The grandchild’s name is in honor of Gloria and symbolizes family tradition and love.

In April, Gloria shared photos from her personal studio and published a slideshow of Galina’s holiday cake, arranged in white with pink and gold balloons, reflecting the joy in the family.

In May, Gloria organized an acoustic live concert on social networks with musicians Dani Milev, Ivo Dukov and her daughter Simona Zagorova, bringing back the emotions and memories of her fans with her eternal ballads and hits.

On May 24, 2021, Gloria presents three new folk songs. “Let’s Celebrate” is an ode to joy and merriment. “Song for Friends” is about relationships and friendships. The duet with Nikolay Slaveev, “With loved ones”, combines the warmth of friendship and love for close people. The arrangements were made by Dimitar Petrov and Kalin Dimitrov.

Just before her birthday, Gloria and Lepa Brena perform a joint concert in Kozloduy, which is a great honor for Gloria.

On July 20 in Burgas, Gloria performed an unforgettable concert with outstanding performers and dancers, including Ballet Fame, Nikolay Slaveev and her daughter Simona Zagorova. The stage of the summer theater became an arena of musical magic, turning the event into a real celebration.

On August 24, 2021, Gloria fulfilled a long-awaited dream by meeting her idol, Dragana Mirkovic. This special meeting inspires her fans to follow their dreams.

At the end of November, Gloria received an invitation from her idol Dragana Mirkovic to participate in her TV show DM SAT in Serbia, which is a great honor and opportunity for Gloria.

On December 14, Gloria and her daughter Simona Zagorova premiere the Christmas song “Miracle”, conveying the warmth of the season. The song has lyrics by Gloria and Marieta Angelova, and music by Gloria.

On December 24, Gloria and her family participated in the program “Predi obed” on BTV, sharing the joy of Christmas together with little Galina. They present the duet “Miracle” and its message.

In the Christmas edition of “The Day Begins” with Georgi Lyubenov, Gloria and Simona tell exciting stories about Christmas. Gloria shares her joy at participating in the New Year’s program of BNT “World Clicker” and her childhood memories of the holiday programs.

On December 27, Gloria was a guest on the Shkumba show on Television 7/8 and shared about her participation in the DM SAT and the meeting with Dragana Mirkovic.

On December 30, in the program “Promocija”, the guest appearance of Gloria in DM SAT is broadcast, where she performs the Serbian version of “Play something percussive” – ​​”DANAS MI JE DAN”. Gloria presents the song to Dragana as an expression of gratitude and admiration.

Gloria’s year ends with fulfilled dreams and great achievements, most importantly – the birth of her granddaughter Galina, as well as successful participation in concerts and shows in our country, also abroad.

Gloria began 2020 with a lot of joy, glamour and love. The official presentation of her book ‘Until the last smile’ was held on 10th of January at Bulgaria Mall in Sofia. It gathered many fans, friends and colleagues who were going through the pages and did not hide their admiration for The Prima and the great work he has done. 

At the end of the month Gloria found herself enjoying the beauty of the Maldives following her tradition to take a short break and recharge in the beginning of each year.

2020 however turned to be different for the entire world. The Covid-19 pandemic created a lot of challenges and Gloria was too affected like all artists with many live performances. Yet, the singer found her own way to continue working and did a series of online concerts from her studios through the social media platforms. She did her best to stay busy and keep her fans’ spirit high in those hard times of social isolation and fear.

Gloria and Simona Zagorova also started a charity initiate to help elderly people with food products. 

In May Gloria got to visit the Black Sea coast and then Greece and later on at the end of June she released not one but two new singles: ‘Eyes don’t lie’ and ‘Hello, how are you’.

The rest of the summer Gloria spent near the vast blue beauty of the sea combined with a short but emotional stay in her hometown Ruse.

In the fall Gloria did a lovely online concert from her studio singing some of her most popular titles. The concert was published on her official YouTube channel – GloriaOfficial and remains one of her most viewed videos to this day.

Over the Christmas holidays Gloria did a new photo shoot and issued her 2021 calendars. She also announced that her daughter Simona is pregnant with her first child. The good news brought much hope and inspiration for a new year filled with love and happiness for us all.  

2019 was full of bright memories both for the Prima of the modern folk and for her fans. She released a new album and her autobiography book was on the shelves.

Among the numerous club performances and big stage concerts, the event that found a special place in Gloria’s heart was the 50-year Town Celebration in Dve Mogili – the place where the singer lived for six wonderful years in her youth. 

Later in September Gloria was invited to be one of artists performing at the opening of the 2019 Balkan Athletics Championships in Pravetz.

The singer and her daughter Simona Zagorova found some time to relax and travel in between their busy schedule too. They got to visit Egypt and the Sahara desert followed by Thasos Island in Greece where Gloria decided to shoot two of her new videos. 

Gloria celebrated her 25-year collaboration with Payner label on 1st of October and on 24th of October she released the single ‘Favorite’. The fans were really excited with the beautiful video enjoying their idol’s charisma, style and talent.

 

The second single Gloria released that year is called ‘You are no guest’. It was first introduced to the public at the premier of her new album ‘Love insists’. The album has 17 tracks combining pop-folk, modern folklore and the title track ‘Love insists’ – a sensual love song reflecting Gloria’s own belief that love is the greatest power among all. The album was well received by the public and its various melodies quickly found their way among different generations of music fans.

Gloria’s autobiography book called ‘Until the last smile’ came on the market to mark her 25th anniversary on the professional music scene. The book was first presented at Book exchange-BOLID in Sofia on 13th of December. The event attracted a lot of interest proving Gloria’s status as a leading artist in the modern music history of Bulgaria. The book itself reveals not only the professional path of the singer but her personal fights, fears and doubts along the way. It also shows Gloria’s individuality, her love and passion for her work and the power of her personality. 

Gloria dedicated a lot of professional energy from the very beginning of 2018 and 365 days later, we can all say it was worth it. The Prima delivered four new pop-folk projects, three projects with folklore music, four big concerts together with Simona Zagorova and many encounters with the audience.

She also began working on her new album and started writing her autobiography.

Gloria’s most unforgettable moments from the spring of 2018 would be her concert in Burgas in 28th of March and the concert in Varna on 21st of April. The concert were held at the biggest venues in both cities, all tickets were sold out and the fans sang along their idol and her daughter for two magical hours.

The singer released the video to the song ‘Shades of grey’ in June followed by her new summer hits ‘I’m not giving you away’ and ‘Welcome stranger’. Gloria decided to shot the videos in Greece and get the best of the summer sceneries and positive vibes of the locations she and her team chose. The singer has pointed out how important positive thinking is because living a happy life is the secret power of the soul.

The artist introduced three new folklore interpretations on 15th of August for one of the biggest Christian holidays. The songs in question are ‘Ludo mlado’, ‘Love is not a toy’ and ‘Angel-Devil’. The first song was recorded with the explicit approval of the authors’ descendants and the cover melody was composed by Svetoslav Loboshki. All three songs were playful and fun, inviting the audience to not only listen but dance as well. The melodies found their rightful place among the folk music fans and folk music awards.

Gloria presented one of her most powerful love song called ‘Love insists’ on 1st of October. The video was shot in Paris and the singer dedicated the project to her daughter. Gloria admits she had the melody ready for yeas and finally she and Marieta Angelova wrote the most fitting lyrics too. The song tells about the power of love over ego, pride and prejudice. 

Gloria’s 2018 calendar was filled with concerts and live club performances. She was part in the huge pop-folk concert ’17 years Planeta TV’ in Arena Armeetz hall and a only a few days later Gloria together with her daughter Simona and the dance groups ‘Ethnorhythm’ and ‘Fame’ had big concerts in Pernik (13th of December) and Ruse (19th of December).

Club Eleven awarded Gloria as Bulgarian Music Idol for 2018 at their first Eleven Famous Awards

2017 was happy and memorable for Gloria for its many encounters with her fans and a few big shows.

The year began with the rest of the tour The Prima and her daughter Simona Zagorova started at the end of 2016. They shared the stage with the modern dance group ‘Fame’, Simeon Edward – keys and Kiril Georgiev – guitar.

The concert in Kazanlak held on 20th of April was the first one, followed by the city of Pleven in May, Kyustendil and Kardzhali in June and finally a grand concert in Gloria’s home town – Ruse held for Christmas. The last concert was sold out months ago and included some of her best hits, new titles and some folklore songs. 

Over 15 towns around Bulgaria invited Gloria for their local festivals and events including Sevlievo, Lom, Chiprovtzi, Dimitrovgrad, Dospat, Devin, Madan and many more. Gloria enjoys interest from a lot of Bulgarian emigrants around the world and had two particularly emotional concerts in 2017 – one in Spain in May and one in London in October.

The new song ‘To the better shooters’ was released on 5th of July. Its different and emotional melody caught the singer’s fans attention only a few hours after it was first played.

Gloria had a reason to be a very proud parent in 2017 as well – her daughter Simona took part in the Bulgarian reality singing competition ‘The Voice of Bulgaria’ and reached the semifinals demonstrating great vocal skills and determination.

The rest of the year Gloria took some time off and enjoyed Bali, Spain, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Holland and Palma de Malorka. What better way to get inspired and set new and higher challenges ahead. 

2016 was full of professional goals Gloria set herself and achieved by the end of it.

The DVD of the ‘20 Years on Stage’ concert was released in February.

28th of June was the premier date of her new single, featuring her daughter Simona Zagorova, called ‘There’s no one who can stop me’. The song was an instant success and reflects Gloria’s life approach: ‘Life is what you make of it, you need to find your ways and set your own rules’.  

This project was also her way to declare she would continue her work with Payner label.

Gloria’s desire for personal and professional development resulted in another solo single this year titled ‘You are going crazy about me’. The melody belongs to Kalin Dimitrov and the lyrics were created by Gloria and Marieta Angelova again. The track has a modern sound and appealing video and received many compliments by the fans.

On 14th of September two new songs were available on all media platforms – ‘Love me as I am’ and ‘Don’t lie kneeling’. Along with them Simona Zagorova released her first solo project called ‘My boy’. Each track had its own style and sound and found its way to the right audience.

Gloria was among the most requested performers all over Bulgaria in 2016 as well. She was a celebrated guest at many festivals and enjoyed her meetings with her devoted fans. It was in fact her amazing contact with the audience to inspire the idea for a concert tour together with her daughter Simona Zagorova. The tour started on 26th of October and after the concerts in Vratza, Yablanitza, Petrich and Ruse, Gloria announced the tour will continue in 2017.

2016 ended with the premier of anther musical surprise Gloria had for her fans – the song ‘Touch has memory’. The Prima said she was madly in love with the track and the audience felt no different about it.

2015 was another successful mark Gloria left on the Bulgarian musical scene. January began with introducing the fans to her own YouTube channel – GloriaOfficial where they can access HD videos of her singles, concerts and interviews.

In the spring Gloria announced her ‘20 Years on Stage’ concert will be held on 30th of September (Simona’s birthday date) at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. Dani Milev band was invited to perform the music and the fans were asked to vote on the songs they would like to hear at the concert. This created a social media boom and the tickets was sold out in just a few days. Additional tickets were released a months before the show so that more people could listen to one of the legends of the modern Bulgarian music.

 ‘Sand Towers’ album was released on 28th of June. It was the 16th album in Gloria’s career and launched alongside rehearsals for her big show in the fall.

The album included nine singles from the last few years together with three new tracks: ‘Like a storm’, ‘Play something powerful’ and ‘Hug me’. They were all very well received by the fans.

In one of her media appearances Gloria gave away part of the secret behind her success saying one needs strong will, ambition, stubbornness even, but most of all we need follow our hearts. ‘Listen to your heart and everything will work out’. 

Hall 1 at the National Palace of Culture wasn’t big enough to gather everyone who wanted to enjoy the jubilee concert of the Prima. The concert included her greatest pop-folk hits together with a set of traditional folklore songs. The singer Nikolay Slaveev was a guest appearance for the songs ‘Katerino mome’ and ‘Nazad, nazad mome Kalino’. Gloria’s longtime friend and fellow singer Toni Dacheva came on stage too and their duo ‘Women are flowers’ threw the audience in an instant frenzy. Azis was another pop-folk star who was part of the show and Gloria’s daughter Simona was a backing vocalist during the concert. The show was enriched by the great performances of modern dance group ‘Fame’ and the folklore dance group ‘Ethnohythm’.

The grand finale of this extraordinary concert was the emblem song ‘Nostalgia’. The audience was on their feet showing their love and respect to Gloria and her talent.

After the concert some of the fans said: ‘she is the biggest star in Bulgaria’ and ‘Gloria is the only one to raise her own bar and outperform it every time’. The media feedback wasn’t much different reading: ‘The Payner music star clearly stated she is a pop-folk powerhouse and is rightfully referred by her fans as The Prima, The Queen or simply The Best…’

Gloria also commented: ‘Hall 1 was full and so was my heart! I love you and I am grateful for all the emotions and love you gave me! I was the happiest woman on Earth that day!’ The full HD video of the concert was released for Christmas.

Besides this central event, Gloria did several very successful shows in Turkey, Macedonia and the UK during this highly successful and creative year.  In the summer she even performed the unique Bulgarian folklore song ‘Ya kazhi mi oblache li byalo’ in Monaco together with the incredible Israeli artist Ishtar.

 

Gloria’s folklore album ‘Paths’ took the prize ‘Folklore music album of 2013’ at the TV Planeta Musical Awards ceremony. The prestigious statuette was presented to her by the archeologist professor Nikolay Ovcharov who expressed his admiration for her work. The singer also won the award for Outstanding Contribution in Developing the Folk Music by the acclaimed website www.signal.bg where her fans selected ‘Sand Towers’ as Love Song of the year.

Gloria made her 7th US Tour in the spring of 2014 with 9 concerts around the states and two concerts in Canada. USA Tour 2014 began on 9th of May in Chicago, followed by Detroit, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa.

The concerts in Montreal and Toronto were truly emotional for Gloria who said ‘Nostalgia is strongest felt thousands kilometers away from home’. She went back to another concerts in Chicago on 25th of May, followed by Denver and Los Angelis. In an interview she added: ‘Meeting all these Bulgarians across the ocean who knew and sang my songs along with me was really worth it. I am grateful to its Majesty, The Audience’. The concerts were completely sold out and Gloria further thanked Petya Romanova for the perfect organization.

Gloria made a new musical gift to her fans on 28th of June when her birthday is. She released the video to the song ‘Countdown’ with music by Mitko Petrov and lyrics by Gloria and Marieta Angelova. The modern video itself was directed by Lyudmil Ilarionov – Lucy.

Gloria presented a new duo song with her daughter Simona too. The track called ‘If they break all notes’ was released on Simona’s 18th birthday. The melody was composed by Dani Manolova and the lyrics were written by Gloria and Marieta Angelova. 

‘This project came to live pretty spontaneously’, Gloria said and added: ‘I am hapy we managed to wrap it all up in time for Simona’s birthday party’. The video directed by Ivaylo Spasov is filled with symbolism and the moving scenes were shot at Payner Studio in Sofia together with Simona’s schoolmates from the National Music School Liubomir Pipkov.

At the end of December Gloria performed several concerts together with Simona who was well accepted by the fans for her talent and charisma. The Prima of the pop-folk shared: ‘Im a professional artist for 21 years now. The first 10 years of my career involved mostly concerts, followed by 10 years of mostly live shows at modern clubs. The time for proper concert tour has come. The club events are different from the big concerts though I feel equally well at both – my life is at the scene no matter the size.’

The singer’s last project for 2014 was a video to the single ‘Wings’. The music was created by Mitko Petrov, the motivational lyrics belong to Gloria and Marieta Angelova and the beautiful video was directed by Lyudmil Ilarionaov – Lucy.

 ‘My mission as an artist is to provoke a feeling and send a message to the audience. I dedicate this song to my fans who have given me so much love and support throughout the years’ said Gloria about ‘Wings’.

2013 was a year filled with new projects and challenges for the Prima of the modern folk, Gloria.

In the beginning of the year the singer delighted her dedicated fans with two new songs. The first one is titled ‘Pulse’ with lyrics written by Gloria and Marietta Angelova, and composed by Kalin Dimitrov in Dubstep style. The song has a very modern sound and extremely different from the typical pop-folk genre.  The second new single is called ‘You Kill on the Spot’ with lyrics written by Gloria and Marietta Angelova again. In this project Gloria took part in creating the music as well together with the composer Svetoslav Loboshki. In February, Gloria did an exclusive photo shoot with photographer Kamen Valkanov which received great appreciation among her fan base.

In March, Gloria indulged into a new challenge proving her dancing talent on top of her brilliant voice and charisma. The occasion was her participation in one of the most attractive dance formats – ‘Dancing Stars’ where the audience could enjoy this unusual yet another great skill she has. Gloria trained hard throughout the entire season, basking into the magic of the dance. Finally with a lot of finesse and a large dose of temperament she rightfully reached the finals of the show.

She, herself, did not hide that saying: ‘Dance is like love – just when it is over, you want to start again’… and added: ‘There is no easy dance, they are all difficult, I am dancing for the first time in my life, the pressure is great… live in front of the eyes of the entire country; I put a lot of effort to protect my name and that of my coach.’ Dance after dance Gloria and her dance partner Svetlin Dimitrov strengthened their leading positions and despite not winning the show they became undisputed favorites of the audience, the jury and TV viewers. During her adventure in ‘Dancing Stars’ Gloria stayed true to herself and showed that success only comes after you put your heart in what you do.

‘It was a real competition, an extreme course in standard and Latin dances…In less than two months I performed 11 dances and spent minimum 5 hours in the gym every day. I have mixed feelings about ‘Dancing Stars’. For me personally, I am a winner anyway’. This was the summery of the show Gloria shared, adding she would remember it for a long time. It was the stage of ‘Dancing stars’ she also presented her new song ‘Pulse’ on. 

An entirely folk music album called ‘Path’ was launched on the market in September. It gathers all folk and ethno songs the star of Payner label had performed until that day. The album features the popular ‘Аh kade e moyto libe’, ‘Zaydi, zaydi’ and ‘Belite manastiri’ as well as three new compositions. The music for two of new songs was created by Gloria and the lyrics belong to Katya Kiryanova (‘Everybody Pays’ and ‘Paths’). The singer decided to include another popular folk song in this album called ‘Koy ushi bayraka’ which she performs regularly in her live shows.

Gloria added value to the ‘Paths’ album by creating a special DVD with videos shot in hydro-park ‘Wind Mills’ and the mountains near Vratza. The project thus became even more attractive to the fans of the quality folk music of Bulgaria.

A little after the release of ‘Paths’ a new completely new song was aired on Planeta TV – the sensational ballad ‘Sand Towers’ with music by Svetlosav Loboshki and lyrics by Marieta Angelova.  Gloria has once again left her musical mark in the hearts of the fans with ‘Sand Towers’. The video was immediately accepted and appreciated and became one of most watched videos on the official YouTube channel of Planeta TV, PlanettaOfficial.

Over the Christmas holidays the singer introduced two new projects to her devoted audience.

One of them was the video for the song ‘Insomnia’ (music by Kalin Dimitrov, lyrics by Marieta Angelova and Gloria). The track involves a special guest appearance of Tzvetan Tvzetanov from Ku-Ku band who played bouzouki and guitar and the back vocals were provided by Gloria’s daughter Simona and Nedelyana Hristova. The video was shot in Dolna Malina and directed by Lyudmil Ilarionov – Luci. The video features passionate pasodoble performed by Gloria and the professional dancer and choreograph Atanas Mesechov. The pure-blood wolf Teras, a professional animal actor, also took part in this video. The song went up the pop-folk charts and the feedback was more than positive.

The second incentive Gloria had for her fans was a slide show made for another new song ‘Tomorrow will be better’

The proof for this yet another successful year for the Prima was her nomination for Singer of the Year in the Annual Musical Awards of Planeta TV. Besides that, she competed for Ballad Hit of 2013 with ‘Sand Towers’ and Folklore album of 2013 with ‘Paths’

The positive comments and interest in the album ‘I Need You’ continued in 2012, leading to numerous invitations for media appearances for Gloria. In February, she recorded a new music video for the song ‘Queen’ which premiered on March 1st. A few days after that, at the annual awards ceremony of Planeta TV, Gloria received the award for Love Song of the Year for ‘Until the Last Tear’. At the 2011 Annual New Folk Awards, the magazine’s readers awarded her the prize for Legacy Keeper between Authentic and New Folk for a second year in a row. The huge recognition she received that year continued with the Love Music Awards ceremony of Radio ‘Romantika’ where she was awarded with their biggest prize – the one for Female Love Artist of 2011. During the summer of 2011 the singer settled at the seaside where she combined vacation time with live performances at popular pop-folk clubs and piano bars. In the beginning of autumn she announced her new project – the song ‘Double Play’. Its video was released on October 15th.

In the very beginning of 2011 Gloria received another recognition after performing the folk song ‘Wherever you go’ in 2010. It was voted to be Folk Song of the Year by the listeners of Radio Signal Plus. Gloria’s official website (www.gloriaofficial.com) was launched in February where her fans could hear her new single ‘Women’s Heart’ for the first time. The video to the song premiered on Planeta TV on March 12th. At the end of March, the guests of the Annual Awards ‘New Folk 2010’ were surprised by Gloria and her colleagues Toni Dacheva, Stefan Mitrov, Tsvetelina Yaneva and Preslava. The artists performed a cover version of the famous song ‘Two Crying Eyes’ by the tragically deceased pop-folk singer Rumyana together with Rumyana’s daughter Mariana. The project was kept secret until its premiere at the awards. The goal was to introduce Mariana to the pop-folk audience. All singers participating in this initiative acted for no personal gain and Gloria provided her own studio for the recording of the song. At the same ceremony, Gloria added another award to her collection – the readers of New Folk magazine appointed her to take the prize for Legacy Keeper between Authentic and New Folk. Over the summer months, Gloria worked on the new songs for her forthcoming album and shot the video for the love song ‘Until the Last Tear’ aired in the autumn of 2010. The video of the single was released on 9th of September on her fans’ request, after they ranked it to be among their favorite love songs she has ever done. Shortly after the recording of the new album was completed. It included 16 songs with 8 entirely new titled. .

The album was available on the music market on October 18th. It’s named after the ‘I need you’ song Gloria and her daughter Simona sing together. One more duet was included on the album – the track ‘Give to Receive’, in collaboration with the Macedonian singer Alexander Tarabunov who rose to fame after his participation at Music Idol.

The diverse sound of the album was due to the large team of established composers Gloria worked with. Some of the are Dimitar Petrov, Chris Kay, Martin Biolchev, Daniel Ganev, Lenko Draganov, Svetoslav Loboshki, Kalin Dimitrov, Grudi Neykov-Jerry and Dejan Savov from Deep Zone Project. The music for the duet with Simona was written by Gloria. The album also included her interpretations of the folklore songs ‘Kade i da idesh’ and ‘Ya kazhi mi oblache le bylao’ to the delight of the huge folklore music audience.

A few days later, the video of the second pilot song – ‘Insatiable’ was on the air. The album was presented in a series of guest appearances in the largest print and broadcast media, and on November 30th, Gloria made its official live premier in the capital’s club ‘Night Flight’.

On the 2nd of December, the video for the duet song ‘I Need You’ premiered as well.

Awards:

Love song of the year – ‘Until the last tear’ – Annual awards of Planeta TV

Continuity between Authentic and New Folk – ‘New Folk’ Annual Awards

Love Music Artist of the Year – Radio ‘Romantika’ Love Music Awards

Besides being a singer, Gloria proved herself as a generous and responsible person on many occasions too. One of them was the charity initiative to raise funds for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. In early February she and many of her colleagues performed in the studio of bTV where Gloria sang ‘Bulgarka’.

In March she released another new song – ‘Stay tonight’. This was the first single that Deep Zone Project composed for Gloria. The video was directed by Lyudmil Illarionov-Lucy.

A few more singles also premiered in 2010 – ‘Kiss More’, ‘I Believe in Love’, ‘Almost Strangers’ (featuring Iliya Zagorov) and ‘Until the Last Tear’, with only the latter not having a video.

During that year she enriched her collection of recorded folklore songs by presenting her interpretations of ‘Zaydi, zaydi’ and ‘Wherever you go’ during the special program on Planeta Folk TV for St. George’s Day.

Gloria joined the charity campaign ‘Bulgarian Christmas’ for the second time at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov. The concert was broadcasted live on the Bulgarian National Television and the artist performed ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ together with ‘Vocherele’ vocal group.

In the spring, The Prima introduced the love song composed by Martin Biolchev ‘Can You Love Me’ on The Azis’ Show. The video was released in the summer. Gloria launched one more single that season – the thematic ‘Summer Full Moon’ with music by Veleslav Draganinsky and lyrics by Marieta Angelova.

On October 22, Gloria blew up Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture for the third time with her solo concert ‘15 Years of Golden Hits’. This is the title of her triple album released the day before the show. It includes 45 of her most popular songs over the years. Gloria presented the provocative video of her newest song ‘Hypnosis’ during that same show.

Awards:

Best Live Performance – Annual New Folk Awards

Special award for the most successful 15-year music career – Annual Planeta TV Awards

Best Pop Folk Singer – Radio ‘Signal Plus’

Love Song of the Year – ‘Can You Love Me’ – Romance Radio Love Music Awards

For its tenth anniversary, the New Folk magazine conducted a special survey among its readers. They chose Gloria as Singer of the Decade and the ‘Fortress’ video was voted Video of the Decade. The awards were presented at a special ceremony in the spring of 2008.

Later that year, The Prima focused on released three new songs – the disco styled ‘One Way Road’, ‘Devilish Love’ and ‘Feeling for a Man’. The videos for all three were directed by Nikolai Nankov.

Awards:

Lifetime Achievement Award – New Folk Annual Awards

Star of ‘Glitter’ – ‘Glitter’ Magazine Annual Awards

Gloria’s next solo album also called ‘Thank You’ was released in March. The album includes one of Gloria’s most iconic singles, the love song ‘If You’re Gone’, which later won Song of the Year prize. The album features her first duet with her daughter Simona called ‘My First Prize’. ‘Thank You’ became one of the three best-selling albums of the year for Payner label.

In October, Gloria and Azis presented their second song together, ‘Make Love, Not War’.

In the first half of 2007 Gloria was invited to be part of the jury for the first edition of the famous TV music reality show ‘Music Idol’ in Bulgaria. She evaluated the contestants together with Yordanka Hristova, Donny and Slavi Trifonov.

Awards:

Song of the Year – ‘If You’re Gone’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Love Song of the Year – ‘If You’re Gone’ – Romance Radio Love Music Awards

Singer of the Decade – New Folk Annual Awards

Video of the Decade – ‘Fortress’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of the Music Industry – Planeta TV Annual Awards

2006 was one of the most productive years for Gloria – she shot five videos. One of them was for her song with the popular Serbian band ‚Luna‘. The single was called ‘Krugovrat‘and became one of the biggest hits of the year. In December Gloria released a very special song dedicated to all her fans titled ‚Thank you‘ (lyrics by Marietta Angelova and music by Dimitar Petrov).

Gloria’s eleventh album, titled ‘In Love with Life’, appeared on the market. The most successful songs on it became ‘Confession’, ‘In Love with Life’, ‘Salvation’ and ‘My Love’.

In September, Gloria sang at the Pirin Folk Festival again where she received an honorary award for General Contribution to the Development of Bulgarian Music. At the end of the year, Gloria became the first Bulgarian pop-folk star to perform in Australia and her concert received a large interest.

Awards:

Most Beautiful Person of Bulgaria – ‘Who’ magazine

Bulgarian Music Development Award – Pirin Folk Festival

Successes abroad – Annual Awards ‘New Folk’

Grand Prize for Outstanding Achievement – Annual New Folk Awards

In March 2004 the audience heard the first duo song of Gloria and Azis called ‘We are not sinless’. The song was recorded especially for the New Folk Awards concert and became an absolute hit in just a few days despite lacking a video.

A few months later the singles ‘Verdict’ and ‘Find Your Master’ were released to become two more hit singles in The Prima’s repertoire. Quite naturally, Gloria was the singer chosen to close the first summer Payner Tour that year. She and seven other famous singers of the label made spectacular shows across the stadiums of Bulgaria.

The same summer her second best-selling album titled ‘10 Years’ was launched, featuring the most popular songs in her 10-year career.

Awards:

Song of the Year – ‘Verdict’ – Annual New Folk Awards

Duet Song of the Year – ‘We Are Not Sinless’ ft Azis – New Folk Annual Awards

Best Live Performance – New Folk Annual Awards

Special Award of ‘Payner’ Ltd for 10 years of productive cooperation – Annual Awards of ‘Planeta’ TV

The year 2003 was a pivotal point in Gloria’s career. In May, her ninth album called ‘Fortress’ was released, featuring the hit singles ‘Phoenix’, ‘Labyrinth’, ‘Expectation’, ‘You Don’t Deserve It’, ‘Fortress’, ‘White Monasteries’, ‘To Be Faithful to Unfaithful’ and others. During the same year, together with Lyudmil Illarionov – Lucy and Nikolai Nankov, Gloria created some of the most impressive videos in the genre to this day – the videos for the ‘Phoenix’, ‘Fortress’ and ’Labyrinth’. The ‘Fortress’

album’s live premier was held on The Prima’s 30th birthday at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture. In June Gloria was invited at the ‘Thrace Folk’ festival and in September she sang at the gala evening of ‘Pirin Folk’ festival in Sandanski.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

Album of the Year – ‘Fortress’ – Annual Awards ‘New Folk’

Video of the Year – ‘Fortress’, dir. Lyudmil Illarionov-Lyusi – Annual Awards ‘New Folk’

Best Special Effects Video – ‘Labyrinth’, dir. Petyo Kartulev and Nikolay Nankov – Annual Awards of Planeta TV

Video with best direction – ‘Fortress’ – Annual Awards of Planeta TV

Video with best script – ‘Fortress’ – Annual Awards of Planeta TV

On March 19th, the Prima of the modern folk paved the way for her music style abroad yet again – she did a very successful concert in Spain and a news report of the event was broadcasted on the Spanish ‘Tele Madrid’. Later on that year, on 24th of May, Gloria together with Desislava and Slavka Kalcheva had an unforgettable concert in the Greek hall ‘Yera Odos’. . In July, she and Iliya Zagorov did a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel. In October, Gloria received another recognition – one of the biggest mobile operators Mtel named her one of the 35 Voices of Bulgaria.

Awards:

Most Successful Ambassador of TV Planeta Worldwide – Planeta Awards

Outstanding Achievement – ‘New Folk’

In July, Gloria became the first pop-folk singer invited to sing in the UK – her concert was held at London’s Astoria Hall.

Her eighth album ‘Illusion’ was released on 21st of August. Apart from the title track ‘Illusion’, the songs ‘If I Had Been Born a River’, ‘Women Are Flowers’ (duet with Toni Dacheva), ‘Don’t Grow Old, Mom’, ‘Welcome’, ‘Love Rain’, ‘Ice Queen’ gained huge popularity too. The live premier was held at ‘I Club’ in Sofia and the show was attended by more than 1 000 fans.

On December 27th, Gloria and Iliya Zagorov flew to the US where she performed for the Bulgarians living there for a second time.

Awards:

Album of the Year – ‘Illusion’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Outstanding Achievement – New Folk Annual Awards

• Video of the Year – ‘Illusion’, dir. Nikolay Skerlev – Golden Mustang Festival

Singer of the Year – ‘Folk Review’ newspaper

On April 20th, the album ‘12 Diamonds’ appeared on the market and the CD turned Gold. Once again Gloria wrote all her lyrics. The songs ‘Goodbye, Adios’, ‘Wild Night’, ‘Golden Cage’, ‘Joyful Anxiety’, the folksy ‘Ah, Where’s My Baby’, ‘Doll on a String’ and others stand out as absolute hits. ‘12 Diamonds’ had three live premiers within two months. The most spectacular of them took place at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture. This was Gloria’s first solo concert in the biggest concert hall in the country and some of her most famous colleagues made guest appearances on her show

‘Popfolk Fiesta 4’ was the next long-awaited mix tape released in 2000. It featured Gloria’s big hit – ‘Like Dog and Cat’ along with popular singles by Ivana, Kosta Markov, Vesela, Maria Zagorova, Iliya Zagorov and others.

In a 2000 poll organized by the Ruse city hall, more than 90 000 citizens in the municipality of Ruse chose Gloria to be the special guest at the traditional festival ‘Teketo’. The interest in the event was tremendous and the concert was seen live by over 25 000 people.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

Audience First Prize for the song ‘Don’t Grow Old, Mom’ – Festival ‘Trakia Folk 2000’

In June, Gloria’s first ‘Greatest Hits’ album was released. The live premier was held at the ‘The Tails’ venue near Harmanli. In 1999 Gloria became the first pop-folk artist with a concert in Greece. The third issue of the ‘Popfolk Fiesta’ mix tape was too released giving a chance for success and popularity to many young singers in then pop-folk music scene.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

First Audience Award for the song ‘Bulgarka’ – Festival “Thrace Folk 1999”

Gloria became the first pop-folk singer to be invited on tour in the US. The video of the single ‘100% Woman’ from her upcoming album was filmed in Chicago. The lyrics for ten of the eleven songs on the album belong to Gloria; she wrote the music for three of the songs too and seven of the tracks were composed by Iliya Zagorov. Once again Gloria betted on an entirely original project with established Bulgarian artists. The second mix tape ‘Popfolk Fiesta’ was also released this year.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

Single of the Year – ‘100% Woman’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Outstanding Achievement – New Folk Annual Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award – Hit Cocktail Awards

The album ‘Nostalgia’ was released in September. The song of the same name written by Gloria and composed by Iliya Zagorov played a pivotal role in Gloria’s career. It became not only an anthem for all Bulgarian emigrants, but also one of the cult songs in the pop-folk genre to this day. Gloria wrote the lyrics for a few other songs on this album. The live premier was held at the ‘Perfect’ restaurant in Sofia and gathered hundreds of fans.

The first pop-folk mix tape ‘Popfolk Fiesta’ was released the same year featuring not only Gloria but also Iliya Zagorov and other popular artists. Mix tapes of that type turned into an annual tradition in the following years.

While enjoying the huge success of her second album, Gloria found out she is pregnant. The man she shared her life with was the composer Iliya Zagorov who created many of her songs in the early years of her career. While expecting her first child, Gloria recorded five new tracks all included in her next album ‘Angel with a Devil Soul’. This album features songs performed by Stefani Angelova, Ventsy Vassilev and Atanas Kolev. The most popular track on the album was the lead title ‘Gift from God’, written and composed by Gloria herself.

The album appeared on the market on 30 September – the very day the couple’s daughter Simona was born. Forty days after giving birth to her child, the singer went back to live performances. A little later she began her first live tour with the ‘House Band’. The tour included a concert at Hristo Botev Hall in Sofia in front of nearly 5000 people.

Awards:

Video of the Year – ‘Angel with a Devil Soul’, dir. Nikolay Skerlev, from ‘Payner Studio’

Gloria’s second album ‘For Better or for Worse’ was released in November. The undisputed hits are the title track ‘My friend, you’re the best’ and the song ‘Leave me alone’. The promotion of the album was held in city of Burgas.

‘For Better or For Worse’ became the best-selling album of the year in Bulgaria and the number of copies sold surpassed that of her debut album. The interest in Gloria was huge, she started traveling to perform weekly all around the country and finally decided to end her work as a variety singer.

Awards:

Best-selling album of the year for Bulgaria – ‘For better or for Worse’ by Payner Studio

Gloria met composer Maxim Goranov who she prepared and recorded her debut album with. A turning point in her life and development as a singer was her contact with Toni Dacheva and the ‘Kristal’ band who changed her initial idea for the style of the album. Toni Dacheva gave her some valuable advice on her future career and songwriting and the very same day Gloria composed her first lyrics – ‘Children are everything in the world’. This is also her first original song which marks the beginning of a glamorous career. Her first hit – ‘Let’s Stay Friends’ was written by Dimcho Delev who she met in Maxim Goranov’s studio. The song was included in a compilation by the record label Folkton.

Gloria was looking for a new record label for her debut album when Maria and Mitko Dimitrov saw her live performance at Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo. Both Gloria and Mitko Dimitrov decided to take the risk of working together, even though they didn’t know each other. She impressed him with her ambition and the confidence in the quality of her songs. This is how Gloria became the first independent singer to be signed by Payner Studio and her debut album called ‘Happiness is Magic’ was on the market in November. The style of the songs was unusual for the pop-folk genre known until then, however the risk of being different paid off. The album was a boom. It sold a record number of copies and the videotape won the praise of the fans. A star was born!

Awards:

Discovery of the Year – 24 Hours Newspaper

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The year 2025 for the queen of pop-folk, Gloria, begins already at the end of December 2024, when she announces a special musical gift for the upcoming New Year. Together with Neli Rangelova, Drago Draganov, Stefan Ilchev, and Simona Zagorova, she presents the song “New Year” — a warm and emotional message that becomes the soundtrack of New Year’s Eve and a symbolic beginning of 2025.
With the arrival of the New Year, Gloria is among the stars of Bulgarian National Television’s festive program “Bulgaria on Two Balls,” once again proving that her presence on stage is an inseparable part of the nation’s holiday spirit.
At the beginning of January, the singer shares another major announcement — her first-ever joint concert with Serbian superstar Dragana Mirković. The grand event is scheduled for November 1 at Kolodrum Hall in Plovdiv and immediately sparks tremendous interest among audiences.
On February 14, the day of love, Gloria offers her fans yet another emotional encounter — the premiere of the concert spectacle “A Musical Fairytale,” filmed during her jubilee concert in 2024 at the National Palace of Culture. The project reinforces the sense of scale, class, and deep emotional connection with the audience that has defined her entire career.
The year continues at a dynamic pace with numerous performances across the country. In March, Gloria surprises her fans with a series of new musical releases — “I Choose Love,” the duet “Turn Up One of Ours” with Toni Storaro, and “Rebirth,” created in collaboration with Dani Milev. Each song carries its own unique energy, yet all are united by Gloria’s unmistakable presence and heartfelt message.
In April, Gloria travels to Egypt, where the photos she shares subtly hint at the filming of a new music video, adding an exotic dimension to her visual universe. May is dedicated to a brief getaway to Paris — the city of love — which naturally complements the singer’s elegance and artistic aura.
On the eve of her birthday, June 27, Gloria releases the new song “Life in Colors,” followed shortly by the powerful hit “She Doesn’t Ask,” whose music video is filmed in Egypt. On June 28, the queen of pop-folk celebrates her birthday with a spectacular concert at the Summer Theatre in Varna, filled to capacity with the love and devotion of her fans.
Summer and autumn unfold with an intense concert schedule, highlighted by a memorable performance on the same stage with Serbian legend Miroslav Ilić — a meeting rich in symbolism and mutual respect across generations and cultures
Throughout the year, Gloria also achieves an important personal victory, successfully defending her name and reputation in court against defamatory publications. This stands as a testament not only to her strength as an artist but also to her integrity as a person for whom truth and dignity matter.
The climax of the autumn season comes with the long-anticipated concert with Dragana Mirković in November — an event that fills the hall to capacity and remains unforgettable thanks to their emotional joint performance of the song “Oprosti za sve.”
At the end of the year, Gloria visits Rome and Italy — places that seem tailor-made for her style and presence. She closes 2025 at full speed, actively preparing a new album and premiering her latest song “In the Silence,” leaving audiences with the clear sense that the very best is yet to come.

The year 2024 for the queen of pop-folk, Gloria, begins in a festive and glamorous way. She welcomes the New Year with a spectacular performance at the International Hotel in Golden Sands, surrounded by her closest people, bidding farewell to the past year with gratitude and stepping into the new one with confidence and inspiration.
As early as January 2, Gloria makes a major announcement — a grand concert marking 30 years on stage, scheduled for June 28, her birthday, at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture. The news sparks an emotional wave among her fans and quickly becomes one of the most anticipated musical events of the year, symbolizing a long, successful, and deeply loved career.
The year unfolds with numerous performances and appearances across the country, alongside the intense and meticulous preparation for the jubilee concert. In February, Gloria announces another significant event — a joint performance with Serbian superstar Dragana Mirković at Kaloyanova Fortress, set to take place on October 19, immediately drawing strong public interest.
On March 8, Gloria appears as a special guest on the TV show Na Kafe, alongside her beloved mother Stefka Peneva, her daughter Simona Zagorova, and her granddaughter Galina, celebrating International Women’s Day in a warm and deeply personal moment that resonates with viewers.
During the spring, her duet with Ustata, “Buy Me Something, Darling,” reaches an impressive two million views, establishing itself as one of the most talked-about and beloved projects of the season.
Summer brings another exciting announcement — a concert for fans in Plovdiv at the Bunardzhika Summer Theatre, part of the jubilee tour “A Musical Fairytale – 30 Years on Stage.” In June, Gloria also releases the song “Music Is a Remedy,” a special collaboration with Dragan Kojić Keba and her daughter Simona Zagorova, both of whom become special guests at the Plovdiv concert.
On June 27, the day before her birthday, Gloria delights her fans once again with the premiere of a new song titled “EGO.”
The undeniable highlight of the year comes on June 28, when Gloria celebrates her birthday exactly where she feels most alive — on stage. The jubilee concert “A Musical Fairytale – 30 Years on Stage” at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture turns into a true musical celebration, filled with emotion, grandeur, and love. Joining her on stage are some of her most iconic duet partners — Azis, Toni Dacheva, Niki Slaveev, among others — transforming the evening into an unforgettable experience for both the audience and the artist herself.
On November 21, “A Musical Fairytale” continues its journey in the city of Ruse at Arena Ruse, where Gloria once again meets her audience together with the Dani Milev Band and special guests Toni Storaro, Ustata, and Simona Zagorova.
Thus, 2024 remains in Gloria’s history as one of the most emotional, grand, and significant years of her career — a year of jubilees, powerful messages, remarkable musical encounters, and boundless love from her audience.

Gloria began 2020 with a lot of joy, glamour and love. The official presentation of her book ‘Until the last smile’ was held on 10th of January at Bulgaria Mall in Sofia. It gathered many fans, friends and colleagues who were going through the pages and did not hide their admiration for The Prima and the great work he has done. 

At the end of the month Gloria found herself enjoying the beauty of the Maldives following her tradition to take a short break and recharge in the beginning of each year.

2020 however turned to be different for the entire world. The Covid-19 pandemic created a lot of challenges and Gloria was too affected like all artists with many live performances. Yet, the singer found her own way to continue working and did a series of online concerts from her studios through the social media platforms. She did her best to stay busy and keep her fans’ spirit high in those hard times of social isolation and fear.

Gloria and Simona Zagorova also started a charity initiate to help elderly people with food products. 

In May Gloria got to visit the Black Sea coast and then Greece and later on at the end of June she released not one but two new singles: ‘Eyes don’t lie’ and ‘Hello, how are you’.

The rest of the summer Gloria spent near the vast blue beauty of the sea combined with a short but emotional stay in her hometown Ruse.

In the fall Gloria did a lovely online concert from her studio singing some of her most popular titles. The concert was published on her official YouTube channel – GloriaOfficial and remains one of her most viewed videos to this day.

Over the Christmas holidays Gloria did a new photo shoot and issued her 2021 calendars. She also announced that her daughter Simona is pregnant with her first child. The good news brought much hope and inspiration for a new year filled with love and happiness for us all.  

2019 was full of bright memories both for the Prima of the modern folk and for her fans. She released a new album and her autobiography book was on the shelves.

Among the numerous club performances and big stage concerts, the event that found a special place in Gloria’s heart was the 50-year Town Celebration in Dve Mogili – the place where the singer lived for six wonderful years in her youth. 

Later in September Gloria was invited to be one of artists performing at the opening of the 2019 Balkan Athletics Championships in Pravetz.

The singer and her daughter Simona Zagorova found some time to relax and travel in between their busy schedule too. They got to visit Egypt and the Sahara desert followed by Thasos Island in Greece where Gloria decided to shoot two of her new videos. 

Gloria celebrated her 25-year collaboration with Payner label on 1st of October and on 24th of October she released the single ‘Favorite’. The fans were really excited with the beautiful video enjoying their idol’s charisma, style and talent.

 

The second single Gloria released that year is called ‘You are no guest’. It was first introduced to the public at the premier of her new album ‘Love insists’. The album has 17 tracks combining pop-folk, modern folklore and the title track ‘Love insists’ – a sensual love song reflecting Gloria’s own belief that love is the greatest power among all. The album was well received by the public and its various melodies quickly found their way among different generations of music fans.

Gloria’s autobiography book called ‘Until the last smile’ came on the market to mark her 25th anniversary on the professional music scene. The book was first presented at Book exchange-BOLID in Sofia on 13th of December. The event attracted a lot of interest proving Gloria’s status as a leading artist in the modern music history of Bulgaria. The book itself reveals not only the professional path of the singer but her personal fights, fears and doubts along the way. It also shows Gloria’s individuality, her love and passion for her work and the power of her personality. 

Gloria dedicated a lot of professional energy from the very beginning of 2018 and 365 days later, we can all say it was worth it. The Prima delivered four new pop-folk projects, three projects with folklore music, four big concerts together with Simona Zagorova and many encounters with the audience.

She also began working on her new album and started writing her autobiography.

Gloria’s most unforgettable moments from the spring of 2018 would be her concert in Burgas in 28th of March and the concert in Varna on 21st of April. The concert were held at the biggest venues in both cities, all tickets were sold out and the fans sang along their idol and her daughter for two magical hours.

The singer released the video to the song ‘Shades of grey’ in June followed by her new summer hits ‘I’m not giving you away’ and ‘Welcome stranger’. Gloria decided to shot the videos in Greece and get the best of the summer sceneries and positive vibes of the locations she and her team chose. The singer has pointed out how important positive thinking is because living a happy life is the secret power of the soul.

The artist introduced three new folklore interpretations on 15th of August for one of the biggest Christian holidays. The songs in question are ‘Ludo mlado’, ‘Love is not a toy’ and ‘Angel-Devil’. The first song was recorded with the explicit approval of the authors’ descendants and the cover melody was composed by Svetoslav Loboshki. All three songs were playful and fun, inviting the audience to not only listen but dance as well. The melodies found their rightful place among the folk music fans and folk music awards.

Gloria presented one of her most powerful love song called ‘Love insists’ on 1st of October. The video was shot in Paris and the singer dedicated the project to her daughter. Gloria admits she had the melody ready for yeas and finally she and Marieta Angelova wrote the most fitting lyrics too. The song tells about the power of love over ego, pride and prejudice. 

Gloria’s 2018 calendar was filled with concerts and live club performances. She was part in the huge pop-folk concert ’17 years Planeta TV’ in Arena Armeetz hall and a only a few days later Gloria together with her daughter Simona and the dance groups ‘Ethnorhythm’ and ‘Fame’ had big concerts in Pernik (13th of December) and Ruse (19th of December).

Club Eleven awarded Gloria as Bulgarian Music Idol for 2018 at their first Eleven Famous Awards

2017 was happy and memorable for Gloria for its many encounters with her fans and a few big shows.

The year began with the rest of the tour The Prima and her daughter Simona Zagorova started at the end of 2016. They shared the stage with the modern dance group ‘Fame’, Simeon Edward – keys and Kiril Georgiev – guitar.

The concert in Kazanlak held on 20th of April was the first one, followed by the city of Pleven in May, Kyustendil and Kardzhali in June and finally a grand concert in Gloria’s home town – Ruse held for Christmas. The last concert was sold out months ago and included some of her best hits, new titles and some folklore songs. 

Over 15 towns around Bulgaria invited Gloria for their local festivals and events including Sevlievo, Lom, Chiprovtzi, Dimitrovgrad, Dospat, Devin, Madan and many more. Gloria enjoys interest from a lot of Bulgarian emigrants around the world and had two particularly emotional concerts in 2017 – one in Spain in May and one in London in October.

The new song ‘To the better shooters’ was released on 5th of July. Its different and emotional melody caught the singer’s fans attention only a few hours after it was first played.

Gloria had a reason to be a very proud parent in 2017 as well – her daughter Simona took part in the Bulgarian reality singing competition ‘The Voice of Bulgaria’ and reached the semifinals demonstrating great vocal skills and determination.

The rest of the year Gloria took some time off and enjoyed Bali, Spain, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Holland and Palma de Malorka. What better way to get inspired and set new and higher challenges ahead. 

2016 was full of professional goals Gloria set herself and achieved by the end of it.

The DVD of the ‘20 Years on Stage’ concert was released in February.

28th of June was the premier date of her new single, featuring her daughter Simona Zagorova, called ‘There’s no one who can stop me’. The song was an instant success and reflects Gloria’s life approach: ‘Life is what you make of it, you need to find your ways and set your own rules’.  

This project was also her way to declare she would continue her work with Payner label.

Gloria’s desire for personal and professional development resulted in another solo single this year titled ‘You are going crazy about me’. The melody belongs to Kalin Dimitrov and the lyrics were created by Gloria and Marieta Angelova again. The track has a modern sound and appealing video and received many compliments by the fans.

On 14th of September two new songs were available on all media platforms – ‘Love me as I am’ and ‘Don’t lie kneeling’. Along with them Simona Zagorova released her first solo project called ‘My boy’. Each track had its own style and sound and found its way to the right audience.

Gloria was among the most requested performers all over Bulgaria in 2016 as well. She was a celebrated guest at many festivals and enjoyed her meetings with her devoted fans. It was in fact her amazing contact with the audience to inspire the idea for a concert tour together with her daughter Simona Zagorova. The tour started on 26th of October and after the concerts in Vratza, Yablanitza, Petrich and Ruse, Gloria announced the tour will continue in 2017.

2016 ended with the premier of anther musical surprise Gloria had for her fans – the song ‘Touch has memory’. The Prima said she was madly in love with the track and the audience felt no different about it.

2015 was another successful mark Gloria left on the Bulgarian musical scene. January began with introducing the fans to her own YouTube channel – GloriaOfficial where they can access HD videos of her singles, concerts and interviews.

In the spring Gloria announced her ‘20 Years on Stage’ concert will be held on 30th of September (Simona’s birthday date) at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. Dani Milev band was invited to perform the music and the fans were asked to vote on the songs they would like to hear at the concert. This created a social media boom and the tickets was sold out in just a few days. Additional tickets were released a months before the show so that more people could listen to one of the legends of the modern Bulgarian music.

 ‘Sand Towers’ album was released on 28th of June. It was the 16th album in Gloria’s career and launched alongside rehearsals for her big show in the fall.

The album included nine singles from the last few years together with three new tracks: ‘Like a storm’, ‘Play something powerful’ and ‘Hug me’. They were all very well received by the fans.

In one of her media appearances Gloria gave away part of the secret behind her success saying one needs strong will, ambition, stubbornness even, but most of all we need follow our hearts. ‘Listen to your heart and everything will work out’. 

Hall 1 at the National Palace of Culture wasn’t big enough to gather everyone who wanted to enjoy the jubilee concert of the Prima. The concert included her greatest pop-folk hits together with a set of traditional folklore songs. The singer Nikolay Slaveev was a guest appearance for the songs ‘Katerino mome’ and ‘Nazad, nazad mome Kalino’. Gloria’s longtime friend and fellow singer Toni Dacheva came on stage too and their duo ‘Women are flowers’ threw the audience in an instant frenzy. Azis was another pop-folk star who was part of the show and Gloria’s daughter Simona was a backing vocalist during the concert. The show was enriched by the great performances of modern dance group ‘Fame’ and the folklore dance group ‘Ethnohythm’.

The grand finale of this extraordinary concert was the emblem song ‘Nostalgia’. The audience was on their feet showing their love and respect to Gloria and her talent.

After the concert some of the fans said: ‘she is the biggest star in Bulgaria’ and ‘Gloria is the only one to raise her own bar and outperform it every time’. The media feedback wasn’t much different reading: ‘The Payner music star clearly stated she is a pop-folk powerhouse and is rightfully referred by her fans as The Prima, The Queen or simply The Best…’

Gloria also commented: ‘Hall 1 was full and so was my heart! I love you and I am grateful for all the emotions and love you gave me! I was the happiest woman on Earth that day!’ The full HD video of the concert was released for Christmas.

Besides this central event, Gloria did several very successful shows in Turkey, Macedonia and the UK during this highly successful and creative year.  In the summer she even performed the unique Bulgarian folklore song ‘Ya kazhi mi oblache li byalo’ in Monaco together with the incredible Israeli artist Ishtar.

 

Gloria’s folklore album ‘Paths’ took the prize ‘Folklore music album of 2013’ at the TV Planeta Musical Awards ceremony. The prestigious statuette was presented to her by the archeologist professor Nikolay Ovcharov who expressed his admiration for her work. The singer also won the award for Outstanding Contribution in Developing the Folk Music by the acclaimed website www.signal.bg where her fans selected ‘Sand Towers’ as Love Song of the year.

Gloria made her 7th US Tour in the spring of 2014 with 9 concerts around the states and two concerts in Canada. USA Tour 2014 began on 9th of May in Chicago, followed by Detroit, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa.

The concerts in Montreal and Toronto were truly emotional for Gloria who said ‘Nostalgia is strongest felt thousands kilometers away from home’. She went back to another concerts in Chicago on 25th of May, followed by Denver and Los Angelis. In an interview she added: ‘Meeting all these Bulgarians across the ocean who knew and sang my songs along with me was really worth it. I am grateful to its Majesty, The Audience’. The concerts were completely sold out and Gloria further thanked Petya Romanova for the perfect organization.

Gloria made a new musical gift to her fans on 28th of June when her birthday is. She released the video to the song ‘Countdown’ with music by Mitko Petrov and lyrics by Gloria and Marieta Angelova. The modern video itself was directed by Lyudmil Ilarionov – Lucy.

Gloria presented a new duo song with her daughter Simona too. The track called ‘If they break all notes’ was released on Simona’s 18th birthday. The melody was composed by Dani Manolova and the lyrics were written by Gloria and Marieta Angelova. 

‘This project came to live pretty spontaneously’, Gloria said and added: ‘I am hapy we managed to wrap it all up in time for Simona’s birthday party’. The video directed by Ivaylo Spasov is filled with symbolism and the moving scenes were shot at Payner Studio in Sofia together with Simona’s schoolmates from the National Music School Liubomir Pipkov.

At the end of December Gloria performed several concerts together with Simona who was well accepted by the fans for her talent and charisma. The Prima of the pop-folk shared: ‘Im a professional artist for 21 years now. The first 10 years of my career involved mostly concerts, followed by 10 years of mostly live shows at modern clubs. The time for proper concert tour has come. The club events are different from the big concerts though I feel equally well at both – my life is at the scene no matter the size.’

The singer’s last project for 2014 was a video to the single ‘Wings’. The music was created by Mitko Petrov, the motivational lyrics belong to Gloria and Marieta Angelova and the beautiful video was directed by Lyudmil Ilarionaov – Lucy.

 ‘My mission as an artist is to provoke a feeling and send a message to the audience. I dedicate this song to my fans who have given me so much love and support throughout the years’ said Gloria about ‘Wings’.

2013 was a year filled with new projects and challenges for the Prima of the modern folk, Gloria.

In the beginning of the year the singer delighted her dedicated fans with two new songs. The first one is titled ‘Pulse’ with lyrics written by Gloria and Marietta Angelova, and composed by Kalin Dimitrov in Dubstep style. The song has a very modern sound and extremely different from the typical pop-folk genre.  The second new single is called ‘You Kill on the Spot’ with lyrics written by Gloria and Marietta Angelova again. In this project Gloria took part in creating the music as well together with the composer Svetoslav Loboshki. In February, Gloria did an exclusive photo shoot with photographer Kamen Valkanov which received great appreciation among her fan base.

In March, Gloria indulged into a new challenge proving her dancing talent on top of her brilliant voice and charisma. The occasion was her participation in one of the most attractive dance formats – ‘Dancing Stars’ where the audience could enjoy this unusual yet another great skill she has. Gloria trained hard throughout the entire season, basking into the magic of the dance. Finally with a lot of finesse and a large dose of temperament she rightfully reached the finals of the show.

She, herself, did not hide that saying: ‘Dance is like love – just when it is over, you want to start again’… and added: ‘There is no easy dance, they are all difficult, I am dancing for the first time in my life, the pressure is great… live in front of the eyes of the entire country; I put a lot of effort to protect my name and that of my coach.’ Dance after dance Gloria and her dance partner Svetlin Dimitrov strengthened their leading positions and despite not winning the show they became undisputed favorites of the audience, the jury and TV viewers. During her adventure in ‘Dancing Stars’ Gloria stayed true to herself and showed that success only comes after you put your heart in what you do.

‘It was a real competition, an extreme course in standard and Latin dances…In less than two months I performed 11 dances and spent minimum 5 hours in the gym every day. I have mixed feelings about ‘Dancing Stars’. For me personally, I am a winner anyway’. This was the summery of the show Gloria shared, adding she would remember it for a long time. It was the stage of ‘Dancing stars’ she also presented her new song ‘Pulse’ on. 

An entirely folk music album called ‘Path’ was launched on the market in September. It gathers all folk and ethno songs the star of Payner label had performed until that day. The album features the popular ‘Аh kade e moyto libe’, ‘Zaydi, zaydi’ and ‘Belite manastiri’ as well as three new compositions. The music for two of new songs was created by Gloria and the lyrics belong to Katya Kiryanova (‘Everybody Pays’ and ‘Paths’). The singer decided to include another popular folk song in this album called ‘Koy ushi bayraka’ which she performs regularly in her live shows.

Gloria added value to the ‘Paths’ album by creating a special DVD with videos shot in hydro-park ‘Wind Mills’ and the mountains near Vratza. The project thus became even more attractive to the fans of the quality folk music of Bulgaria.

A little after the release of ‘Paths’ a new completely new song was aired on Planeta TV – the sensational ballad ‘Sand Towers’ with music by Svetlosav Loboshki and lyrics by Marieta Angelova.  Gloria has once again left her musical mark in the hearts of the fans with ‘Sand Towers’. The video was immediately accepted and appreciated and became one of most watched videos on the official YouTube channel of Planeta TV, PlanettaOfficial.

Over the Christmas holidays the singer introduced two new projects to her devoted audience.

One of them was the video for the song ‘Insomnia’ (music by Kalin Dimitrov, lyrics by Marieta Angelova and Gloria). The track involves a special guest appearance of Tzvetan Tvzetanov from Ku-Ku band who played bouzouki and guitar and the back vocals were provided by Gloria’s daughter Simona and Nedelyana Hristova. The video was shot in Dolna Malina and directed by Lyudmil Ilarionov – Luci. The video features passionate pasodoble performed by Gloria and the professional dancer and choreograph Atanas Mesechov. The pure-blood wolf Teras, a professional animal actor, also took part in this video. The song went up the pop-folk charts and the feedback was more than positive.

The second incentive Gloria had for her fans was a slide show made for another new song ‘Tomorrow will be better’

The proof for this yet another successful year for the Prima was her nomination for Singer of the Year in the Annual Musical Awards of Planeta TV. Besides that, she competed for Ballad Hit of 2013 with ‘Sand Towers’ and Folklore album of 2013 with ‘Paths’

The positive comments and interest in the album ‘I Need You’ continued in 2012, leading to numerous invitations for media appearances for Gloria. In February, she recorded a new music video for the song ‘Queen’ which premiered on March 1st. A few days after that, at the annual awards ceremony of Planeta TV, Gloria received the award for Love Song of the Year for ‘Until the Last Tear’. At the 2011 Annual New Folk Awards, the magazine’s readers awarded her the prize for Legacy Keeper between Authentic and New Folk for a second year in a row. The huge recognition she received that year continued with the Love Music Awards ceremony of Radio ‘Romantika’ where she was awarded with their biggest prize – the one for Female Love Artist of 2011. During the summer of 2011 the singer settled at the seaside where she combined vacation time with live performances at popular pop-folk clubs and piano bars. In the beginning of autumn she announced her new project – the song ‘Double Play’. Its video was released on October 15th.

In the very beginning of 2011 Gloria received another recognition after performing the folk song ‘Wherever you go’ in 2010. It was voted to be Folk Song of the Year by the listeners of Radio Signal Plus. Gloria’s official website (www.gloriaofficial.com) was launched in February where her fans could hear her new single ‘Women’s Heart’ for the first time. The video to the song premiered on Planeta TV on March 12th. At the end of March, the guests of the Annual Awards ‘New Folk 2010’ were surprised by Gloria and her colleagues Toni Dacheva, Stefan Mitrov, Tsvetelina Yaneva and Preslava. The artists performed a cover version of the famous song ‘Two Crying Eyes’ by the tragically deceased pop-folk singer Rumyana together with Rumyana’s daughter Mariana. The project was kept secret until its premiere at the awards. The goal was to introduce Mariana to the pop-folk audience. All singers participating in this initiative acted for no personal gain and Gloria provided her own studio for the recording of the song. At the same ceremony, Gloria added another award to her collection – the readers of New Folk magazine appointed her to take the prize for Legacy Keeper between Authentic and New Folk. Over the summer months, Gloria worked on the new songs for her forthcoming album and shot the video for the love song ‘Until the Last Tear’ aired in the autumn of 2010. The video of the single was released on 9th of September on her fans’ request, after they ranked it to be among their favorite love songs she has ever done. Shortly after the recording of the new album was completed. It included 16 songs with 8 entirely new titled. .

The album was available on the music market on October 18th. It’s named after the ‘I need you’ song Gloria and her daughter Simona sing together. One more duet was included on the album – the track ‘Give to Receive’, in collaboration with the Macedonian singer Alexander Tarabunov who rose to fame after his participation at Music Idol.

The diverse sound of the album was due to the large team of established composers Gloria worked with. Some of the are Dimitar Petrov, Chris Kay, Martin Biolchev, Daniel Ganev, Lenko Draganov, Svetoslav Loboshki, Kalin Dimitrov, Grudi Neykov-Jerry and Dejan Savov from Deep Zone Project. The music for the duet with Simona was written by Gloria. The album also included her interpretations of the folklore songs ‘Kade i da idesh’ and ‘Ya kazhi mi oblache le bylao’ to the delight of the huge folklore music audience.

A few days later, the video of the second pilot song – ‘Insatiable’ was on the air. The album was presented in a series of guest appearances in the largest print and broadcast media, and on November 30th, Gloria made its official live premier in the capital’s club ‘Night Flight’.

On the 2nd of December, the video for the duet song ‘I Need You’ premiered as well.

Awards:

Love song of the year – ‘Until the last tear’ – Annual awards of Planeta TV

Continuity between Authentic and New Folk – ‘New Folk’ Annual Awards

Love Music Artist of the Year – Radio ‘Romantika’ Love Music Awards

Besides being a singer, Gloria proved herself as a generous and responsible person on many occasions too. One of them was the charity initiative to raise funds for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. In early February she and many of her colleagues performed in the studio of bTV where Gloria sang ‘Bulgarka’.

In March she released another new song – ‘Stay tonight’. This was the first single that Deep Zone Project composed for Gloria. The video was directed by Lyudmil Illarionov-Lucy.

A few more singles also premiered in 2010 – ‘Kiss More’, ‘I Believe in Love’, ‘Almost Strangers’ (featuring Iliya Zagorov) and ‘Until the Last Tear’, with only the latter not having a video.

During that year she enriched her collection of recorded folklore songs by presenting her interpretations of ‘Zaydi, zaydi’ and ‘Wherever you go’ during the special program on Planeta Folk TV for St. George’s Day.

Gloria joined the charity campaign ‘Bulgarian Christmas’ for the second time at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov. The concert was broadcasted live on the Bulgarian National Television and the artist performed ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ together with ‘Vocherele’ vocal group.

In the spring, The Prima introduced the love song composed by Martin Biolchev ‘Can You Love Me’ on The Azis’ Show. The video was released in the summer. Gloria launched one more single that season – the thematic ‘Summer Full Moon’ with music by Veleslav Draganinsky and lyrics by Marieta Angelova.

On October 22, Gloria blew up Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture for the third time with her solo concert ‘15 Years of Golden Hits’. This is the title of her triple album released the day before the show. It includes 45 of her most popular songs over the years. Gloria presented the provocative video of her newest song ‘Hypnosis’ during that same show.

Awards:

Best Live Performance – Annual New Folk Awards

Special award for the most successful 15-year music career – Annual Planeta TV Awards

Best Pop Folk Singer – Radio ‘Signal Plus’

Love Song of the Year – ‘Can You Love Me’ – Romance Radio Love Music Awards

For its tenth anniversary, the New Folk magazine conducted a special survey among its readers. They chose Gloria as Singer of the Decade and the ‘Fortress’ video was voted Video of the Decade. The awards were presented at a special ceremony in the spring of 2008.

Later that year, The Prima focused on released three new songs – the disco styled ‘One Way Road’, ‘Devilish Love’ and ‘Feeling for a Man’. The videos for all three were directed by Nikolai Nankov.

Awards:

Lifetime Achievement Award – New Folk Annual Awards

Star of ‘Glitter’ – ‘Glitter’ Magazine Annual Awards

Gloria’s next solo album also called ‘Thank You’ was released in March. The album includes one of Gloria’s most iconic singles, the love song ‘If You’re Gone’, which later won Song of the Year prize. The album features her first duet with her daughter Simona called ‘My First Prize’. ‘Thank You’ became one of the three best-selling albums of the year for Payner label.

In October, Gloria and Azis presented their second song together, ‘Make Love, Not War’.

In the first half of 2007 Gloria was invited to be part of the jury for the first edition of the famous TV music reality show ‘Music Idol’ in Bulgaria. She evaluated the contestants together with Yordanka Hristova, Donny and Slavi Trifonov.

Awards:

Song of the Year – ‘If You’re Gone’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Love Song of the Year – ‘If You’re Gone’ – Romance Radio Love Music Awards

Singer of the Decade – New Folk Annual Awards

Video of the Decade – ‘Fortress’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of the Music Industry – Planeta TV Annual Awards

2006 was one of the most productive years for Gloria – she shot five videos. One of them was for her song with the popular Serbian band ‚Luna‘. The single was called ‘Krugovrat‘and became one of the biggest hits of the year. In December Gloria released a very special song dedicated to all her fans titled ‚Thank you‘ (lyrics by Marietta Angelova and music by Dimitar Petrov).

Gloria’s eleventh album, titled ‘In Love with Life’, appeared on the market. The most successful songs on it became ‘Confession’, ‘In Love with Life’, ‘Salvation’ and ‘My Love’.

In September, Gloria sang at the Pirin Folk Festival again where she received an honorary award for General Contribution to the Development of Bulgarian Music. At the end of the year, Gloria became the first Bulgarian pop-folk star to perform in Australia and her concert received a large interest.

Awards:

Most Beautiful Person of Bulgaria – ‘Who’ magazine

Bulgarian Music Development Award – Pirin Folk Festival

Successes abroad – Annual Awards ‘New Folk’

Grand Prize for Outstanding Achievement – Annual New Folk Awards

In March 2004 the audience heard the first duo song of Gloria and Azis called ‘We are not sinless’. The song was recorded especially for the New Folk Awards concert and became an absolute hit in just a few days despite lacking a video.

A few months later the singles ‘Verdict’ and ‘Find Your Master’ were released to become two more hit singles in The Prima’s repertoire. Quite naturally, Gloria was the singer chosen to close the first summer Payner Tour that year. She and seven other famous singers of the label made spectacular shows across the stadiums of Bulgaria.

The same summer her second best-selling album titled ‘10 Years’ was launched, featuring the most popular songs in her 10-year career.

Awards:

Song of the Year – ‘Verdict’ – Annual New Folk Awards

Duet Song of the Year – ‘We Are Not Sinless’ ft Azis – New Folk Annual Awards

Best Live Performance – New Folk Annual Awards

Special Award of ‘Payner’ Ltd for 10 years of productive cooperation – Annual Awards of ‘Planeta’ TV

The year 2003 was a pivotal point in Gloria’s career. In May, her ninth album called ‘Fortress’ was released, featuring the hit singles ‘Phoenix’, ‘Labyrinth’, ‘Expectation’, ‘You Don’t Deserve It’, ‘Fortress’, ‘White Monasteries’, ‘To Be Faithful to Unfaithful’ and others. During the same year, together with Lyudmil Illarionov – Lucy and Nikolai Nankov, Gloria created some of the most impressive videos in the genre to this day – the videos for the ‘Phoenix’, ‘Fortress’ and ’Labyrinth’. The ‘Fortress’

album’s live premier was held on The Prima’s 30th birthday at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture. In June Gloria was invited at the ‘Thrace Folk’ festival and in September she sang at the gala evening of ‘Pirin Folk’ festival in Sandanski.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

Album of the Year – ‘Fortress’ – Annual Awards ‘New Folk’

Video of the Year – ‘Fortress’, dir. Lyudmil Illarionov-Lyusi – Annual Awards ‘New Folk’

Best Special Effects Video – ‘Labyrinth’, dir. Petyo Kartulev and Nikolay Nankov – Annual Awards of Planeta TV

Video with best direction – ‘Fortress’ – Annual Awards of Planeta TV

Video with best script – ‘Fortress’ – Annual Awards of Planeta TV

On March 19th, the Prima of the modern folk paved the way for her music style abroad yet again – she did a very successful concert in Spain and a news report of the event was broadcasted on the Spanish ‘Tele Madrid’. Later on that year, on 24th of May, Gloria together with Desislava and Slavka Kalcheva had an unforgettable concert in the Greek hall ‘Yera Odos’. . In July, she and Iliya Zagorov did a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel. In October, Gloria received another recognition – one of the biggest mobile operators Mtel named her one of the 35 Voices of Bulgaria.

Awards:

Most Successful Ambassador of TV Planeta Worldwide – Planeta Awards

Outstanding Achievement – ‘New Folk’

In July, Gloria became the first pop-folk singer invited to sing in the UK – her concert was held at London’s Astoria Hall.

Her eighth album ‘Illusion’ was released on 21st of August. Apart from the title track ‘Illusion’, the songs ‘If I Had Been Born a River’, ‘Women Are Flowers’ (duet with Toni Dacheva), ‘Don’t Grow Old, Mom’, ‘Welcome’, ‘Love Rain’, ‘Ice Queen’ gained huge popularity too. The live premier was held at ‘I Club’ in Sofia and the show was attended by more than 1 000 fans.

On December 27th, Gloria and Iliya Zagorov flew to the US where she performed for the Bulgarians living there for a second time.

Awards:

Album of the Year – ‘Illusion’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Outstanding Achievement – New Folk Annual Awards

• Video of the Year – ‘Illusion’, dir. Nikolay Skerlev – Golden Mustang Festival

Singer of the Year – ‘Folk Review’ newspaper

On April 20th, the album ‘12 Diamonds’ appeared on the market and the CD turned Gold. Once again Gloria wrote all her lyrics. The songs ‘Goodbye, Adios’, ‘Wild Night’, ‘Golden Cage’, ‘Joyful Anxiety’, the folksy ‘Ah, Where’s My Baby’, ‘Doll on a String’ and others stand out as absolute hits. ‘12 Diamonds’ had three live premiers within two months. The most spectacular of them took place at Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture. This was Gloria’s first solo concert in the biggest concert hall in the country and some of her most famous colleagues made guest appearances on her show

‘Popfolk Fiesta 4’ was the next long-awaited mix tape released in 2000. It featured Gloria’s big hit – ‘Like Dog and Cat’ along with popular singles by Ivana, Kosta Markov, Vesela, Maria Zagorova, Iliya Zagorov and others.

In a 2000 poll organized by the Ruse city hall, more than 90 000 citizens in the municipality of Ruse chose Gloria to be the special guest at the traditional festival ‘Teketo’. The interest in the event was tremendous and the concert was seen live by over 25 000 people.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

Audience First Prize for the song ‘Don’t Grow Old, Mom’ – Festival ‘Trakia Folk 2000’

In June, Gloria’s first ‘Greatest Hits’ album was released. The live premier was held at the ‘The Tails’ venue near Harmanli. In 1999 Gloria became the first pop-folk artist with a concert in Greece. The third issue of the ‘Popfolk Fiesta’ mix tape was too released giving a chance for success and popularity to many young singers in then pop-folk music scene.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

First Audience Award for the song ‘Bulgarka’ – Festival “Thrace Folk 1999”

Gloria became the first pop-folk singer to be invited on tour in the US. The video of the single ‘100% Woman’ from her upcoming album was filmed in Chicago. The lyrics for ten of the eleven songs on the album belong to Gloria; she wrote the music for three of the songs too and seven of the tracks were composed by Iliya Zagorov. Once again Gloria betted on an entirely original project with established Bulgarian artists. The second mix tape ‘Popfolk Fiesta’ was also released this year.

Awards:

Female Singer of the Year – New Folk Annual Awards

Single of the Year – ‘100% Woman’ – New Folk Annual Awards

Outstanding Achievement – New Folk Annual Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award – Hit Cocktail Awards

The album ‘Nostalgia’ was released in September. The song of the same name written by Gloria and composed by Iliya Zagorov played a pivotal role in Gloria’s career. It became not only an anthem for all Bulgarian emigrants, but also one of the cult songs in the pop-folk genre to this day. Gloria wrote the lyrics for a few other songs on this album. The live premier was held at the ‘Perfect’ restaurant in Sofia and gathered hundreds of fans.

The first pop-folk mix tape ‘Popfolk Fiesta’ was released the same year featuring not only Gloria but also Iliya Zagorov and other popular artists. Mix tapes of that type turned into an annual tradition in the following years.

While enjoying the huge success of her second album, Gloria found out she is pregnant. The man she shared her life with was the composer Iliya Zagorov who created many of her songs in the early years of her career. While expecting her first child, Gloria recorded five new tracks all included in her next album ‘Angel with a Devil Soul’. This album features songs performed by Stefani Angelova, Ventsy Vassilev and Atanas Kolev. The most popular track on the album was the lead title ‘Gift from God’, written and composed by Gloria herself.

The album appeared on the market on 30 September – the very day the couple’s daughter Simona was born. Forty days after giving birth to her child, the singer went back to live performances. A little later she began her first live tour with the ‘House Band’. The tour included a concert at Hristo Botev Hall in Sofia in front of nearly 5000 people.

Awards:

Video of the Year – ‘Angel with a Devil Soul’, dir. Nikolay Skerlev, from ‘Payner Studio’

Gloria’s second album ‘For Better or for Worse’ was released in November. The undisputed hits are the title track ‘My friend, you’re the best’ and the song ‘Leave me alone’. The promotion of the album was held in city of Burgas.

‘For Better or For Worse’ became the best-selling album of the year in Bulgaria and the number of copies sold surpassed that of her debut album. The interest in Gloria was huge, she started traveling to perform weekly all around the country and finally decided to end her work as a variety singer.

Awards:

Best-selling album of the year for Bulgaria – ‘For better or for Worse’ by Payner Studio

Gloria met composer Maxim Goranov who she prepared and recorded her debut album with. A turning point in her life and development as a singer was her contact with Toni Dacheva and the ‘Kristal’ band who changed her initial idea for the style of the album. Toni Dacheva gave her some valuable advice on her future career and songwriting and the very same day Gloria composed her first lyrics – ‘Children are everything in the world’. This is also her first original song which marks the beginning of a glamorous career. Her first hit – ‘Let’s Stay Friends’ was written by Dimcho Delev who she met in Maxim Goranov’s studio. The song was included in a compilation by the record label Folkton.

Gloria was looking for a new record label for her debut album when Maria and Mitko Dimitrov saw her live performance at Interhotel Veliko Tarnovo. Both Gloria and Mitko Dimitrov decided to take the risk of working together, even though they didn’t know each other. She impressed him with her ambition and the confidence in the quality of her songs. This is how Gloria became the first independent singer to be signed by Payner Studio and her debut album called ‘Happiness is Magic’ was on the market in November. The style of the songs was unusual for the pop-folk genre known until then, however the risk of being different paid off. The album was a boom. It sold a record number of copies and the videotape won the praise of the fans. A star was born!

Awards:

Discovery of the Year – 24 Hours Newspaper