Marija Šerifović

Born on November 14, 1984, in Kragujevac, then part of Yugoslavia, Marija Serifović claimed the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest title on Serbia’s behalf. Her first public appearance came at age nineteen during the 2003 Budva Festival, where she delivered “Gorka Čokolada” (Bitter Chocolate). Shortly afterward she joined City Records, which issued her debut album, Naj, Najbolja (The Very Very Best), later that year and extracted the single “Znaj Da Znam” (You Should Know That I Know). Returning to Budva in 2004, she captured the top prize with “Bol Do Ludila” (Hurting to Insanity), a track that dominated airplay across the Balkans.

A Serbian-language adaptation of Despina Vandi’s “Olo Lipis” (I Believe It) became another substantial success for her in 2005. That same year “Ponuda” (Offer) placed eighteenth in the Serbia & Montenegro Eurovision selection, yet victory at the Serbian Song Contest with “U Nedelju” secured the follow-up album Bez Ljubavi (Without Love), released in 2006. Entering 2007, she notched a further hit with “Bez Tebe” (Without You). In March she swept the Serbian Eurovision preliminaries performing “Molitva” (Prayer), repeated the triumph at the Helsinki finals, and promptly prepared localized editions of the song—“Destiny” for Britain, “Rukoilen” for Finland, and the unchanged “Molitva” for Russia.