Double Grammy Triumph for NZ-Croatian Teen

Kiwi-Croatian singing sensation Ella Yelich-O’Connor (17), better known as Lorde, has become just the second person with Croatian heritage to pick up a prestigious Grammy Award…

Yelich-O’Connor, who has Croatian roots on her mother’s side and lives in Auckland,New Zealand, has enjoyed a remarkable rise to fame this year thanks to her smash hit ‘Royals’, which carries a message criticizing the materialism of the pop music scene, and spent nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart this year. Ella won two Grammy Awards on Monday for Song of the Year and for Best Pop Solo Performance.

Lorde joins Nirvana’s Krist Novoselić as proud Grammy owners with a Croatian connection. Nirvana won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance for MTV Unplugged In New York in 1996. The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States.