then Socialist Republic of Macedonia, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to an anesthesiologist father and a technologist mother. She also has a younger sister who is an ophthalmologist. Gočeva finished her primary school in Bitola, where she also performed in a child choir. After that, she went to the high school Josip Broz-Tito in Bitola. As she had an interest in learning foreign languages, she finished her studies in the English language at the Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, part of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje. Gočeva first entered the music field at the age of 9, when she performed Madonna's "Like a Prayer" at the popular Šaram Baram show at the Pionerski dom in Bitola. She got her first breakthrough in the music industry in 1990, at the age of 10 when she performed at the first broadcast of the children's festival "Si-Do" in Bitola. A few months later, she participated with another ballad where she won the prize for Best Interpretation. She also participated in the annual festival "Makfest 91" in Štip with the song "Mamo, pušti me" ("Mum, let me go") where she won the award for Most Successful Debut. As her music career was just starting, she used national festivals to promote her voice and talent. In 1992, she released her first children studio album, which contained 11 other songs in addition to "Mamo, pušti me". Gočeva became a regular participant at Skopje Fest, a contest for the selection of the Macedonian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, debuting in 1994 with a performance of the song "Koj da ti kaže" (). In the following years, she continued participating successfully including in 1996, with the song "Ma, ajde kaži mi" ("Come on, tell me") which reached 9th place. In 1998, she participated with "Ukradeni noќi" ("Stolen nights") which was more successful, reaching 4th place with 10,454 televotes. 2000-2002: Jas Imam Pesna and Zošto Sonot Ima Kraj and Eurovision Song Contest 2002 In 2000, she signed a deal with the record label Avalon Production. Shortly afterwards, her debut studio album Jas Imam Pesna () was released through the label. Three singles were released off the first album, including "Sakaj me" (), "Bez ogled na se" () and "Nemir" (), the latter of which she sang in a duet with Macedonian pop singer Toše Proeski. Following the release of her first studio album,