But what differentiates her is not only the depth and sensuality of the timbre of voice, which few other singers possess, but her ability to transform into fado every melody to which she lends her voice. There is no other fado voice like Ana Moura’s.
Ana began to cultivate a passion for music as a child, helped in this by a family of singers. Although he had been able to perform in any musical genre, he soon realized he had a particular inclination for fado: at the age of six he sang his first fado song Cavalo Ruço, but during his adolescence he decided to put this music aside for a while. In this period, despite singing songs of other genres, his voice continues to gravitate around the fado style.
Continuing the experience in other areas, he will record a pop/rock album, which should have been released with the Universal label, whose recording, however, has never been completed. In the end, fate has run its course and has taken Ana Moura to a bar in Carcavelos, where she finally gives in to temptation and returns to singing fado. The guitarist António Parreira, who was there that night, is so impressed with her that he proposes a tour in the houses of fado. On the occasion of an evening in one of them, Ana is invited to sing by Maria da Fé, co-owner of the prestigious fado house Senhor Vinho. This and other fado clubs gradually became his music school. Before that, Ana Moura sang fado only because her intuition suggested it. Now, however, the teachings received from more experienced people, especially Maria de Fé and Jorge Fernando, were giving her other reasons to sing, without ever losing her spontaneity.
It is Jorge Fernando who in 2003 will produce his first album Guarda-me a Vida na Mão and who will be responsible for six of the fifteen songs contained in it. It was soon clear that Ana Moura’s fado possessed a rare elasticity and the reaction of the public and critics was so enthusiastic that the singer soon established herself in the Portuguese scene and later also abroad. Aconteceu, released in 2004, was the natural continuation of his debut album.
On the other side of the world, meanwhile, the saxophonist of the Rolling Stones, Tim Ries, was looking for a fado singer to be included in his project: involving artists with disparate musical backgrounds to reinterpret some of the songs of the famous band. For this initiative Ana recorded “Brown Sugar” and “No Expectation” and played this last song during a live Rolling Stones at the José Alvalade stadium in Lisbon.
From that moment on, Ana Moura and the Rolling Stones met several times: one of the occasions was following a call from Ries, during which he told her that he had written for her a song “Velho Anjo”which he himself played on saxophone on the singer’s next album: Para Além da Saudade.
Another event that marked her career was on July 18, 2010 on the stage of the Super Bock Super Rock Festival where during a Prince concert, she performed with him in a Portuguese version of “Walk in Sand” and in the traditional song or “Vou Faddar de Beber à Dor“. The following year, he was very lucky for his career, winning the Golden Globe, climbing the Billboard and Amazon charts, and being nominated for “Artist of the Year” by British magazine Songlines.
In 2012 Ana released her fifth album, entitled Desfado, the turning point of her career and the best-selling album in Portugal in the last five years, reaching the top of the Portuguese charts but also winning those of England, Spain and the United States.
And his latest album, Casa Guilhermina, released in November 2022, was also a huge success. On this record you can feel the different musical influences that blend with his unmistakably deep voice. Within this new album, we find a tribute to Price, “I wrote ‘Jacarandá’ for Prince. It’s a tribute to Prince who loved my music. He said, ‘Your music just needs a rhythm’. And that’s how the beat got into this story, and I think he would be very happy”. Jacarandá closes with a solo by Mike Scott, guitarist who worked with Prince.
The career of Ana Moura is currently the most lively and flourishing of the Portuguese music scene, as evidenced by the 300,000 records sold, the about twelve awards, including two Golden Globes and the numerous performances along with music icons such as Prince, Rolling Stones, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Herbie Hancock.