Marija Šerifović (Serbian Cyrillic: Марија Шерифовић; born November 14, 1984, in Kragujevac, Serbia) is a Serbian pop singer and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. She is the daughter of folk singer Verica Šerifović.
In 2003, Marija released her debut album, titled “Naj, najbolja” (“The Very Best”), which was well received by the public. She participated in the Budva Festival, in Montenegro, with the song “Gorka čokolada”, but didn’t achieve any major success. Next year, she entered the festival again, with the song “Bol do ludila”, and won the first prize. The song topped the charts in Serbia, Montenegro and other ex-Yugoslav republics and was a major hit. In 2005, she tried her luck by entering another festival. This time it was Beovizija, the Serbian semifinal of Evropesma (the Serbian-Montenegrin preselection for Eurovision Song Contest), where she managed to qualify for the final with the song “Ponuda”. After a national scandal in which the Montenegrin jury boycotted the Serbian participants, Marija came only 18th in the final, getting 5 points. That same year, she entered and won the Serbian Radio Festival, with the song “U nedelju”, composed by Leontina Vukomanović. She was a clear favourite from the very beginning. She also received the award for the best vocal performance.
Her second album, “Bez ljubavi” (“Without Love”), was released in 2006, and was quite a success. On February 21, 2007, Marija held her first concert. About 4000 people attended this event at the Sava Centre, Belgrade.
Marija entered the Beovizija Festival 2007 with the song “Molitva” (“Prayer”), and won the final of the contest on March 8 (receiving 12 points from the televoting and 10 points from the jury), after giving an amazing vocal performance. She represented her country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, in Helsinki, Finland, and won the final of the contest, on May 12, getting a total of 268 points.
Her third album, “Nisam anđeo” (“I’m not an Angel”), was released in March 2008. Her fourth album, “Anđeo” (“Angel”), was released in November 2009.
