Ana Paula Valadão

Ana Paula Machado Valadão Bessa (born May 16, 1976) is a Brazilian Christian worship leader, singer-songwriter and pastor. She is the leader of the contemporary praise band Diante do Trono, which has sold more than 15 million worship albums globally and has led worship gatherings of as many as two million people in attendance. She has led millions in worship throughout the world and believes that worship is a major instrument for the restoration of a nation.

An award-winning worship leader, Ana Paula Valadão is the leader and founder of the music ministry Diante do Trono, one of the best known and most renowned contemporary Christian music bands in Brazil and the world, with whom she has released more than 50 albums, including live recordings, studio and children's projects, the Crianças Diante do Trono, plus some solo projects. The group has sold more than 15 million records in various formats, becoming one of the record sales of records in Brazil. In a single performance, held on July 12, 2003, during the recording of the album '' Quero Me Apaixonar'', Diante do Trono brought together over 2 million people at Campo de Marte Airport in São Paulo, being the largest audience of a Christian event in the world and the second largest audience in Brazil, second only to the Rock in Rio festival. Her band has also been a winner of the Talent Awards, by RecordTV and Promises Awards, by Rede Globo, and was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award in 2012 with the album '' Sol da Justiça''.

Through the ministry Diante do Trono and her home church, Lagoinha Church, Valadão promotes various social, humanitarian and missionary actions, such as ''Projeto India'', which combats human trafficking, the ''Missão DT'', and other specific actions promoted during some of her live album recordings in Brazil and the Middle East. She is presently co-pastor of Before the Throne Church, a Lagoinha satellite church in Boca Raton, Florida, alongside her husband, Gustavo Bessa.

In 2012, she was named one of the 100 most important Brazilians of all time by a survey by broadcaster SBT in partnership with the BBC London. In 2013, she was cited by Forbes as the 89th most influential celebrity in Brazil.

Life and career

Ana Paula Valadão is the daughter of Pastors Márcio Valadão and Renata Valadão, pastors of Lagoinha Church, a charismatic Baptist megachurch in their hometown of Belo Horizonte. She is the older sister of André Valadão and Mariana Valadão. She started her music career by participating in a group called King's Kids and her first album was ''Expressão de Fé'', recorded by the King's Kids. Some time later, she participated in the choir El-Shammah and recorded the album ''Ele Tem Sido Fiel''.

Valadão studied law at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), but locked up the course in 1996, and therefore decided to attend the Christ for the Nations Institute (CFNI) in Dallas, Texas, United States. When she returned to Brazil, she began writing songs, and she recorded her first album entitled ''Diante do Trono'' in 1998. Its creation marked the beginning of the group Diante do Trono. Valadão married the pastor Gustavo Bessa on September 13, 2000, one year and eleven months after they met. Afterward she struggled to conceive and portrayed this difficulty in her CD '' Esperança'', especially in the title track "Esperança". While recording her next CD, ''Ainda Existe Uma Cruz'', she was pregnant with her first son Isaque Valadão Bessa, who was born on January 3, 2006, and on May 23, 2009 her second son, Benjamim Valadão Bessa was born. In the same year, she also released her first solo album ''As Fontes do Amor''.

In August 2009, she and her family moved to Dallas, where her husband continued his ministerial studies. However, she explained on Diante do Trono's official website that she decided that she would not leave the band and would continue to appear in all the group's main events. In May 2011, the family returned to Brazil.

Valadão has received more than 32 awards on behalf of her group. In 2004, of the 8 nominations that were submitted for Troféu Talento (a Brazilian award similar to the Dove Awards) she won 7, and was also nominated for awards in various categories in the 38th GMA Dove Awards for the album ''In The Father's Arms'', though she won none. Diante do Trono has traveled to several countries in America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Throughout its history, Valadão has remained head of the ministries, compositions and organizations of the group.

In July 2012, Valadão was considered one of the 100 most important Brazilians of all time by the Brazilian television network SBT in partnership with the BBC
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