Luísa Sobral

Luísa Vilar Braamcamp Sobral (European Portuguese: [luˈizɐ viˈlaɾ βɾɐ̃ˈkɐ̃p suˈβɾal]; born 18 September 1987) is a Portuguese singer and songwriter. She came to prominence in 2003 after finishing third in the first season of Ídolos, the Portuguese version of Idols television series. After going on hiatus to attend the Berklee College of Music, she released her debut album, The Cherry on My Cake, in 2011. She later composed "Amar pelos dois", which was performed by her brother Salvador Sobral and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 for Portugal.

Life and career

Early life and career

Luísa Sobral was born and raised in Lisbon, and also lived in the United States for a period of time as a child. Her younger brother is Salvador Sobral, who is also a singer. Through her father, she is related to Hermano José Braamcamp de Almeida Castelo Branco, a 19th-century Portuguese nobleman and politician of Italian and Dutch descent.

In 2003, at the age of 16, Sobral auditioned for season one of Ídolos, the Portuguese version of Idols. She eventually came third in the competition. After Ídolos, Sobral took a break from her musical career in order to focus on her education. She moved to the United States to study music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating in 2009. Her move to the United States made her compositions more distinct, a mixture between Portuguese, Brazilian, French and North American musical traditions, reflecting her musical influences in her classic soft-spoken singing style.