Maria José Valério Dourado was a Portuguese singer, well known for her love of Sporting Clube de Portugal and for being the interpreter of “Marcha do Sporting”, adopted as the club’s anthem.
Maria José Valério was born on May 6, 1933, in Amadora.
She started singing in 1950, at Liceu D. João de Castro, where she was a colleague of actress Lurdes Norberto.
She attended the Radio Artists Preparation Center, at the then Emissora Nacional, becoming part of the cast.
She made her debut in 1952 on Emissora Nacional. She was the niece of maestro Frederico Valério, for whom she recorded many songs.
Her name gained prominence with the success of themes such as “The Police Signaler” and acting, for example, on the program Serões para Trabalhadores, alongside names such as Rui de Mascarenhas, Gina Maria or Paula Ribas.
Her greatest success is “Menina dos Telephones”, from 1962, by Manuel Paião and Eduardo Damas.
Maria José Valério was married to bullfighter José Trincheira, and both lived in Angola for about a year in the early 1960s.
Between late 1972 and mid-1973, Maria José Valério spent some time in Brazil.
A regular presence on television, Maria José Valério became better known to the new generations for being the interpreter of “Marcha do Sporting”, the anthem of Sporting Clube de Portugal. The theme was reissued as a single when Sporting won the 1999/2000 First Division Portuguese Football Championship, having reached first place in the national sales chart.
On the first day of April 2004, Maria José Valério was awarded the Medal of Merit of the City of Lisbon, gold grade, awarded by the Lisbon City Council and delivered in a ceremony at Forum Lisboa.
In 2008, a collection was released, O Melhor de Maria José Valério, with themes from her work recorded for the publisher Valentim de Carvalho.
In 2017, she headlined, alongside António Calvário, in the play Da Revista ao Musical.
She died on March 3, 2021, aged 87, at Hospital de Santa Maria, in Lisbon, a victim of COVID-19.
