Nadia Ali

Nadia Ali (, نادية علي; born August 3, 1980) is a Pakistani-American singer-songwriter.

Nadia Ali was born in Tripoli, Libya to Pakistani parents on August 3, 1980.

The family relocated when she was five years old and she was subsequently raised in Queens, New York City.

Ali started working in the New York offices of Versace when she was 17.

A colleague from Versace introduced her to producer Markus Moser, who was looking for a female-singer (or "chanteuse") to collaborate on some of his original productions for a girl group in Germany.

The two teamed up with Moser working on production, while Ali wrote the lyrics and vocals for the songs.

Her first song was the single "Rapture", which she wrote in 30 minutes based on an encounter with an Australian nightclub patron.

Ali gained prominence in 2001 as the frontwoman and songwriter of the band iiO after their debut single "Rapture" gained significant success in Europe, most notably the United Kingdom, where the song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in November 2001.

A demo of the song was first played at the New York club Twilo in 2001 and received early support from influential DJ Pete Tong who played the demo on his show on BBC Radio 1.

The song eventually became an Ibiza favourite after support from prominent DJs such as Sasha, Danny Tenaglia and Sander Kleinenberg during the summer season.

Released in late 2001 by Ministry of Sound, the single became a commercial success peaking at No. 2 on UK Singles Chart and Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart, while charting in several countries in Europe.

The success of "Rapture", Ali said, caused the formation of iiO as the music they were initially working on was quite different from dance music and were asked to come up with a project name to promote the single.

They originally named themselves Vaiio after the Sony VAIO laptop Ali used to write the lyrics on.

The duo toured internationally and released several more singles, including "At the End", "Runaway", "Smooth", and "Kiss You".

After embarking on a solo career in 2005, Ali became a vocalist in electronic dance music.

Their first studio album, Poetica followed in 2005.

Ali left the group in 2005 to pursue a solo career, while Moser continued to release iiO material featuring her on vocals.

Their 2006 single, "Is It Love?", reached the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart.

Most notably, these releases include the 2006 single "Is It Love?", which reached No. 1 in America on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, the 2007 remix album Reconstruction Time: The Best Of iiO Remixed and the 2011 studio album Exit 110.

Ali started working on her debut solo album soon after leaving iiO, a process which took her four years.

Her first solo release was the 2006 single, "Who is Watching?", a collaboration with Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren, which appeared on his album Shivers.

This was followed by "Something to Lose" in 2006, a duet with singer Rosko, produced by John Creamer & Stephane K and released by Ultra Records.

The track was licensed to Roger Sanchez's Release Yourself, Vol. 5, as well as Sharam Tayebi of Deep Dish for his Global Underground debut Dubai.

In June 2008, she released "Crash and Burn", the first single from her solo album.

The single became a club success peaking at No. 6 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart.

She released her debut album Embers in 2009.

Three singles from the album reached the top-ten of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, including the No. 1 hit, "Love Story".

She released the second single, "Love Story" from the as-yet untitled album in February 2009.

It topped Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart in April 2009 and was nominated for the Best Progressive/House Track at the 2010 International Dance Music Awards at the Winter Music Conference.

Ali was featured on MTV Iggy in March 2009, where she recorded three live acoustic videos, performing "Rapture", "Crash and Burn" and "Love Story".

The third single "Fine Print" was released in July 2009.

Ali announced that the single preceded the release of her debut solo album Embers.

The single peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart.

In 2010, Ali released a remix album series titled "Queen of Clubs Trilogy" to mark her decade-long career as a singer.

"Rapture" was re-released as the only single from the trilogy and the song was once again a chart success in Europe.

Ali released the single "Pressure" with Starkillers and Alex Kenji in 2011, which became a club and festival anthem and received an International Dance Music Award.

In 2012, she collaborated with BT and Arty on the single "Must Be the Love".

She released the song "Almost Home" with Sultan + Shepard in 2017, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay and received a Juno Award nomination.

In 2018, she debuted a new direction and sound under the experimental project titled HYLLS, which saw her departing from electronic dance music toward the indie pop genre.

In 2022, she collaborated with Michael Calfan and released a song titled 3, 2, 1.