Maria Teresa Villa-Lobos (born 30 March 1982), known professionally as Sabrina, is a Portuguese singer from

Setúbal Setúbal (, , ; cel-x-proto, Caetobrix) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. The population in 2014 was 118,166, occupying an area of . The city itself had 89,303 inhabitants in 2001. It lies within the Lisbon metropolitan area. In the t ...

. She represented her country and national broadcaster RTP at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

, in

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Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

, after winning the

Festival da Canção Festival da Canção (; "Song Festival") or Festival RTP da Canção is the name given to the national festival, produced and broadcast by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) to choose the for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was first held in ...

, the national selection. Due to Portugal's non-qualification to the final, in 2006, Sabrina performed in the semi-final, finishing 11th thus failing to qualify.

Biography

Sabrina started singing at school and family parties and, at the age of 16, she already had won some

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

competitions. Her major hobby was playing

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

at the ''Grupo Desportivo e Recreativo do Bairro do Liceu'', achieving a championship runner-up place for local club

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

. Professionally, she was part of the third and last line-up of Portuguese girlband ''Teenagers'', from 2003 to 2006, when she planned to start her solo career. In early 2007, with 24 years old, she was selected, through a

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejecte ...

, to participate on RTP's '' Festival da Canção 2007''. Her producer, popular artist Emanuel, proposed her to perform under the

alias Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the J ...

Sabrina. On 10 March, she won the show with almost twice the votes of the runner-up. The song, called " Dança comigo", represented

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

at the

in Helsinki, Finland. Sabrina performed in position number 17 at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 semi-final, backed by a mixed pair of dancers and three female singers. The Eurovision version was more Latino-influenced than the version with which she won the ''Festival da Canção'', and the last two choruses were sung in French, Spanish, English and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. The dance routine was more elaborate also. Sabrina ended up 11th, just 4 points short of qualification, right behind

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistri ...

(to whom incidentally Portugal gave its maximum points). The song's final ranking was 25th out of 42 countries, making "Dança Comigo" the most successful Portuguese entry since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, and the second highest Portuguese scorer ever, with 88 points (after the 92 points from

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

). 44 points came from western European countries (8 points from neighbouring Spain), and 36 points from eastern Europe. It was the highest western scoring song in the semi-final. In

ESC 2008 The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcast ...

, she was a spokesperson for RTP. Along with the Eurovision Song Contest preparations, she was also working on her debut album, produced by Emanuel.

Personal life

She is married to Portuguese football player

Orlando Sá Orlando Carlos Braga de Sá (born 26 May 1988) is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who played as a striker. After spending his early career with Braga and Porto, appearing sparingly for both, he travelled abroad in 2011, going on ...

, and they have two children.

Notes

External links

Sabrina's Portuguese fansiteVideo of song "Dança comigo"EuroVisão Portugal (www.eurovisao.web.pt)Festival da Canção 2007 – official websiteInterview and report
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabrina (Portuguese Singer) 1982 births Living people Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Portugal Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2007 21st-century Portuguese women singers People from Setúbal

Biography

Personal life

See also

Notes

External links