Raquel Tavares was born on January 11, 1985 in Lisbon.
Her name gained national notoriety in fado for the first time in 1997, the year in which, at the age of 12, she won the Grande Noite do Fado, an initiative of Casa da Imprensa. In 2004, she made her film debut with Raquel playing a small role as a fado singer, in Mário Barroso’s film O Milagre Segundo Salomé.
Even before releasing its eponymous album, it was the “national attraction” in the magazine of the year 2005 “Arre Potter que é muito!”, in Parque Mayer, more specifically in Teatro Maria Vitória.
Her album Raquel Tavares would hit the market, in 2006, by the publisher Movieplay Portuguesa. In the production was Jorge Fernando, who also played the guitar. They also accompany the fado singer Custódio Castelo on the Portuguese guitar, Diogo Clemente on the viola and Filipe Larsen on the bass guitar.
Also in 2006, Raquel Tavares received the “Amália Rodrigues Award” for “Revelação Feminina”, from the Amália Rodrigues Foundation. In 2007, it would be the turn of Casa da Imprensa to award him the “Revelation Award”. In the spring of 2008, also through the record label Movieplay, Bairro was released, the next studio album produced by Diogo Clemente, who also plays the fado guitar.
This work also includes a DVD directed by Aurélio Vasques and Ana Rocha de Sousa.
Themes by Raquel Tavares appear in several compilations, such as “Manjerico”, present in the “Hoje” section of Fado: Semper! Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow = Always! Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, by iPlay, from 2008, or “Meditando Eu a Vi”, 2004 theme from the album Fado Sentido by João Pedro that would be included in Novo Fado by Difference, in 2006.
The fado singer was one of the voices chosen to participate in the tribute to Adriano Correia de Oliveira, on the Movieplay CD and DVD, Adriano, Aqui e Agora : O Tributo, from 2007, performing “Cantar Para Um Pastor”, with arrangement by Diogo Clemente, having also participated in another tribute in the same year, in this case in the documentary by João Pedro Moreira Não me Obriguem a Vir para Rua Gritar : Tributo a Zeca Afonso, by SubFilmes.
Raquel Tavares visited several fado houses (“Café Luso”, “Senhor Vinho”, “Arcadas do Faia”, “Adega Mesquita”, “Adega Machado”), being in 2009 a regular presence at Casa de Linhares “Bacalhau De Molho”. ”, where you could also find names like Celeste Rodrigues, Maria da Nazaré, Ana Moura, Jorge Fernando, Manuel Bastos, Maria do Carmo or Vânia Duarte.
By this time, Raquel’s performances extended beyond borders, with visits to several countries and cities such as Paris, Rome, Madrid and even Santiago de Chile.
Raquel Tavares participated in the documentary O Fado da Bia (2012), directed by Diogo Varela Silva, with Beatriz da Conceição as the central figure.
In 2016, Raquel was released, an album that featured guest appearances by Rui Massena, Carlão, Rui Veloso and António Serrano.
Dance is something that also captivates the fado singer who participated in the third edition of the television show Dança Comigo, the Portuguese version of Strictly Comes Dancing, taking 2nd place but taking the European place that the previous year had belonged to presenter Sónia Araújo.
Subsequently, Raquel Tavares and the professional dancer João Tiago formed the pair that represented Portugal in the second edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest, on 6 September 2008, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, with the participation of 15 countries, having placed in 8th position with 61 points.
Raquel Tavares would again show her dancing skills on television in 2013, this time on the show Dança com as Estrelas on TVI.
Career break: On January 9, 2020, she announced the decision to take a break from her career because she no longer feels good singing, citing her willingness to embrace projects involving television.
