Sara Alexandra Lima Tavares (; 1 February 1978 – 19 November 2023) was a Portuguese singer, composer, guitarist and percussionist. She was born and raised in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal. Second-generation Portuguese of

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

an descent, she composed African-, Portuguese- and North American-influenced

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

Early life

Tavares's parents were immigrants from

who settled in

Almada Almada () is a city and a municipality in Portugal, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River, on the opposite side of the river from Lisbon. The two cities are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population of the municipality in 20 ...

in the 1970s. She was born on 1 February 1978. While still a child, she was left in the care of an old woman when her father left the family and her mother moved to the south of the country with her younger siblings. Tavares showed great musical promise from a young age; in 1994 she won the national television song contest ', performing

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

's "

One Moment in Time "One Moment in Time" is a sentimental ballad by American singer Whitney Houston, written by Albert Hammond and John Bettis, and produced by Narada Michael Walden as a promotional song for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. It was re ...

". That same year, she won the

Festival da Canção (; "Song Festival") or Festival RTP da Canção is the name given to the national festival produced and broadcast by (RTP) to select for the Eurovision Song Contest. It was first held in 1964. History Like most music festivals in isolated ...

, that earned Tavares a slot in the

1994 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), and presented ...

at the age of 16. Her winning song, "Chamar a Música," was featured on her debut EP, ''Sara Tavares & Shout'' (1996), where Tavares mixed gospel and funk with her native Portuguese influences. Her debut album ' was produced by

Lokua Kanza Pascal Lokua Kanza (born 21 April 1958), known professionally as Lokua Kanza, is a Congolese singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, philanthropist, television personality, and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his soulful, folksy sound, w ...

and released in 1999. In 2017, eight years after ', Tavares released '. The album was inspired in Lisbon's different African sounds and cultures and features a more electronic and urban sound than Tavares's previous works. The album received a

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from any ...

nomination for Best Portuguese Language Roots Album.

Artistry

Tavares composed in Portuguese and

Portuguese-based creole Portuguese creoles () are creole languages which have Portuguese as their substantial lexifier. The most widely-spoken creoles influenced by Portuguese are Cape Verdean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Creole and Papiamento. Origins Portuguese oversea ...

languages. Although Portuguese was the main language of her songs, her repertoire includes

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

songs mixing Portuguese with Portuguese Creole and even English in the same song. She won the 1993/1994 final of the

Endemol Endemol B.V. (stylized in all lowercase) was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted gen ...

song contest ''Chuva de Estrelas'' (performing

's "

"), which helped her win the Portuguese Television Song Contest final in 1994, consequently earning a place in the

, with the song "

Chamar a Música The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 30 April 1994 at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (RTÉ), and presented ...

" which reached 8th place. Tavares was also known for singing the European-Portuguese version of "God Help the Outcasts" for the Disney movie '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', which won a Disney Award for the best version of the original song. She also won a Portuguese Golden Globe for Best Portuguese Singer in 2000. Tavares named

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto" ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

and

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

as her favourite childhood artists. Her music was noted to feature a blending of cultures, particularly those of Portugal and Cape Verde. Tavares was among a group of Portuguese-born artists of African origins, that helped bring African influences to mainstream music in Portugal.

Personal life

In 2021, Tavares publicly revealed that she discovered she was

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

at the age of 24.

Death

Sara Tavares died on 19 November 2023 in Lisbon, at age 45, from a

brain tumour A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...

with which she had been diagnosed in 2009.

Legacy

The song ''Pé de choro'' by Huca, which competed in Festival da Canção 2024, is a tribute to Tavares.

Discography

* ''Sara Tavares & Shout'' (1996) * ''Mi Ma Bô'' (1999) * ''Balancê'' (2006) * ''Alive! in Lisboa'' (2008) * ''Xinti'' (2009) * ''Fitxadu'' (2017)

References

Sources

External links

Official site
(archived version) * *
Sara Tavares online press kit at rock paper scissors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavares, Sara 1978 births 2023 deaths 21st-century Portuguese women singers Portuguese guitarists Portuguese women guitarists Portuguese people of Cape Verdean descent Portuguese LGBTQ singers Musicians from Lisbon Singers from Lisbon 20th-century Portuguese women singers 21st-century guitarists Golden Globes (Portugal) winners Women in Latin music 21st-century women guitarists Deaths from brain cancer in Portugal Bisexual women musicians Portuguese bisexual people 21st-century Portuguese LGBTQ people English-language singers from Portugal LGBTQ women singers Portuguese women composers Eurovision Song Contest entrants