Vânia Sofia Olim Marote de Ribeiro Fernandes (born 25 September 1985) is a Portuguese singer from

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

(

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

). Known for her powerful stage presence, as well as her prominent and versatile voice, Fernandes has participated in several singing contests and performed in public in both her home island of Madeira and on the mainland of Portugal since 1997. In 2007, Vânia won Portuguese public television's talent contest, '' Operação Triunfo'' (the Portuguese version of

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). That same year, she completed her professional music studies and training in singing, including

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, at Madeira's Conservatory. On 22 May 2008 Fernandes sung " Senhora do mar" (Lady of the Sea) during the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in

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. The song was the winner of the 2008 edition of Portugal's national selection final for Eurovision, the Festival da Canção. She represented Portugal in the Eurovision final on 24 May 2008 and gained 13th place (out of 25) with 69 points. In the semi-final, she was 2nd, with 120 points.

External links

Vânia Fernandes' web site (in English and Portuguese)Vânia singing "Senhora do Mar" at ESC 2008 FinalVânia Fernandes' biography on the official Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade 2008 web siteVânia Fernandes' page
on

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* 1985 births Living people People from Funchal 21st-century Portuguese women singers Star Academy winners Operación Triunfo contestants Eurovision Song Contest entrants {{Portugal-singer-stub