Original, authentic, creative, unusual, special. These are some of the adjectives that fit the name of Misia, the singer and fado singer who passed away this Saturday at the age of 69. The news was announced by the writer and friend of the artist Richard Zimler on social media. “He passed away peacefully, sweetly, without pain,” said the author of “The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon.”
Born in Porto on June 18, 1955 to a Portuguese father and a Catalan mother, in a family with artistic roots (her mother was a dancer, her grandmother a music hall and burlesque artist), Misia began singing very early, being a lover of fado, a genre she intended to revive. She got in touch with writers and poets, with names such as Saramago, Agustina Bessa-Luis, José Luis Peixoto and Lydia Jorge writing for her, as well as musicians Jorge Palma, Vitorino and Sérgio Godinho.
Throughout the 1990s, he performed on major national and international stages, making a name for himself and winning a legion of fans – even more abroad than at home. In 2004, she was awarded the degree of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in France, and the following year she was awarded the degree of Chevalier of the Order of Merit in Portugal.
Two years ago he released his last work: “Animal Sentimental” was a wonderful album, but also a book in which he spoke without shame about a relationship marked by domestic violence, the pain of feeling more loved abroad than at home, and the fight he had been waging for years against cancer. Misia, the hypnotic singer, is leaving us. Funeral details are not yet known.