Sabrina (Portuguese singer)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Sabrina


Img_capt = Promotional photo for RTP's 2007 Festival da Canção.
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Teresa Villa-Lobos
Alias = Sabrina
Born = birth year and age|1983
Died =
Origin = Setúbal, Portugal
Instrument =
Genre = Pop
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 2003–2006 ("Teenagers")
2006–present (solo)
Label =
Associated_acts = Teenagers
URL =
Notable_instruments =

Sabrina (born 1983) is the stage name of Teresa Villa-Lobos, a Portuguese singer, from Setúbal. She represented her country and national broadcaster RTP at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, in Helsinki, Finland, after winning the Festival da Canção, the national selection. Due to Portugal's non-qualification to the final, in 2006, Sabrina performed in the semifinal, 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 competitions. Her major hobby was playing futsal at the "Grupo Desportivo e Recreativo do Bairro do Liceu", achieving a championship runner-up place for local club Vitória de Setúbal.

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, to participate on RTP's "Festival da Canção 2007". Her producer, popular artist Emanuel, proposed her to perform under the alias Sabrina. On March 10, she won the show with almost twice the votes of the runner-up. [cite web |url=http://www.rtp.pt/wportal/sites/tv/festival_cancao07/index.php |title=Festival da Canção 2007 |publisher=RTP |accessdate=2007-03-20] The song, called "Dança Comigo (Vem Ser Feliz)", represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland. The song is considered as a typical Portuguese schlager (nicknamed "Pimba" in Portugal).

Sabrina performed in position number 17 at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 semifinal, 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 chorus was sang in French, Spanish, English and Portuguese. The dance routine was more elaborate also. Sabrina ended up 11th, just 4 points short of qualification, right behind Moldova (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, and the second highest Portuguese scorer ever, with 88 points (after the 92 points from 1996). 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 semifinal. In ESC 2008, she will be spokesperson for RTP.

Sabrina is currently married to Nandinho, a Portuguese football player, former captain of Vitória de Setúbal. Along with the Eurovision Song Contest preparations, she is also working on her debut album, produced by Emanuel.

Notes

See also

*Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

External links

* [http://sabrinaportugal2007.pt.vu/ Sabrina's Portuguese fansite] pt icon
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14hDWaqPsjU Video of song "Dança comigo"]
* [http://www.eurovisao.web.pt EuroVisão Portugal (www.eurovisao.web.pt)] pt icon
* [http://www.rtp.pt/wportal/sites/tv/festival_cancao07/index.php Festival da Canção 2007 - official website] pt icon
* [http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=50 Interview and report]