Wassabi

This article is about Romanian musical group. For the plant Wasabia japonica, also called Japanese horseradish, see Wasabi. For other uses, see Wasabi (disambiguation).

Wassabi
Origin	Romania
Genres	Pop
Years active	2006-2009
Past members	Laura Petrescu Veronica Tecaru Ramona Sora Luisa Luca

Wassabi were a Romanian musical girl group established in 2006 under the management of Marius Moga, who also wrote many of their songs. The band was made up of Laura Petrescu, Veronica Tecaru, Ramona Sora, and Luisa Luca.

Career

The group launched its series of hits with the album Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine. The album contained "Have Some Fun with Radio 21" that was used as the signature song for the Romanian radio station Radio 21. The band also released the title song from the album "Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine" as well as "Lonely Girl". Their biggest hit was "Don't Go Baby" written by Marius Moga.^[1]

The band also took part in Selecţia Naţională Eurovision 2007 to represent Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest. The song was "Do the Tango with Me". Wassabi also presented another song "Crazy" in collaboration with band Morandi, but the song was withdrawn prior to the final to allow better chances for "Do the Tango with Me".

After the split-up

The band continued until 2009 when Laura Petrescu announced she was leaving the band.^[2] The band disbanded soon after, although Lora came back to be reconciled with her bandmates in 2011.^[3]

Lora

Main article: Lora (singer)

Laura Petrescu known by her mononym Lora (born in Vaslui, Romania on 23 July 1982) became a very famous solo singer. She took part in 2010 in collaboration with Sonny Flame in Selecţia Naţională 2010 with the song "Come Along". The song came 7th overall^[4] despite its great popularity. Lora has collaborated with many acts including Sensor in the open concert in Bucharest.^[5] with Phelipe in "Hot Spot" and in 2010 with Adrian Sîna of the band Akcent in "My Passion" with great success in Romania and internationally. The music video featured models Ana Stefanescu and Silviu Tolu. Lora released the song "No More Tears" with the help of Adrian Sîna also with an accompanying music video in 2011. Her song "Fall in Love Tonight" has also found international success.

Minelli

Main article: Minelli (Romanian singer)

Luisa Ionela Luca, known professionally as Minelli, is a Romanian singer, songwriter and lyricist. Minelli is appreciated in Romania as a composer and lyricist, but her international fame as a soloist was ensured by singles such as "Mariola" (2019) and "Rampampam" (2021).^[6] As a songwriter and lyricist, Minelli's repertoire contains hit songs such as "Inimi de ceară" (2017) performed by Andra,^[7] "Touch Me" (2019) performed by Antonia^[8] or "Flashbacks" (2021) performed by Inna.^[9]

Discography

Albums

• Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine

Singles

(For solo singles releases by Lora, see discography on Lora (singer) page)

• "Have Some Fun with Radio 21"
• "Și m-am îndrăgostit de tine"
• "Lonely Girl"
• "Don't Go Baby"
• "Do the Tango with Me" Selecţia Naţională Eurovision 2007
• "Crazy (Morandi and Wassabi) Selecţia Naţională Eurovision 2007 (withdrawn prior to final)

References

1. Laura Petrescu spune o poveste sexy la Eurovision (in Romanian)
2. Showbiz.ro: Lora se intoarce in trupa Wassabi? (in Romanian)
3. Libertatea.ro: Lora s-a împăcat cu fostele colege din trupa Wassabi: "Mi-am recuperat prietenele" (in Romanian)
4. One Europe: Romania 2010
5. Lora va canta in deschiderea concertului Faithless! (in Romanian)
6. Mihaela, Furdui (May 24, 2021). ""Rampampam", Minelli ocupă locul 38 în Top 200 Shazam Global!" ["Rampampam", Minelli ranks 38th in the Top 200 Shazam Global!] (in Romanian). 1Music.ro. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
7. ""Ola! Mariola" vine din Slobozia, are 31 de ani și 2 copii! Cum arată și cine este artista care a dat hit-ul verii și de care nu a auzit nimeni până acum!" ["Hello! Mariola ”comes from Slobozia, is 31 years old and has 2 children! What does it look like and who is the artist who hit the summer and no one has heard of before!] (in Romanian). Ciao.ro. August 30, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
8. Alex, Stănescu (May 14, 2019). "Antonia - Touch Me" [Antonia - Touch Me] (in Romanian). InfoMusic.ro. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
9. Bogdan (April 12, 2021). ""Flashbacks", cel mai recent single al Innei – locul 1 pe radio în România si nu numai" ["Flashbacks", Inna's latest single - the 1st place on the radio in Romania and beyond] (in Romanian). TraiesteMuzica.ro. Retrieved April 12, 2021.