The government will award singer and actress Simone de Oliveira with the Medal of Cultural Merit, in a ceremony to be held on Friday, March 27, World Theater Day, at Casa do Artista, in Lisbon.
In a statement released this Thursday, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, stated that “Simone de Oliveira’s career is made of emotion, intensity and truth”.
“He knew how to perform like few others: giving body to songs, giving voice to stories and transforming the stage into a space where art comes closer to people. His work is a living legacy — it will continue to inspire artists and audiences for many years to come”, added the governor.
With the granting of the Medal of Cultural Merit, the Government “honors not only the singer or actress, but the performer whose career far exceeds the sum of her songs, shows or characters”, highlighted the ministry.
In 1969, Simone de Oliveira won the RTP Song Festival for the second time with “Desfolhada Portuguesa”, with which she represented Portugal at the Eurovision Festival in Madrid.
Although she has a repertoire of more than 400 songs, Simone de Oliveira will always be remembered as the woman who, in 1969, in the middle of the Estado Novo, sang on television that “whoever makes a child, does it for pleasure”.
At the end of that year he lost his voice. Simone de Oliveira then did journalism, radio, continuity voice over and presented a Miss Portugal contest and shows at the Casino Peninsular in Figueira da Foz.
The interpreter of “Sol de vento”, however, recovered her voice, recorded an album with songs written by José Cid, and in 1973 competed again at the RTP Festival with “Só o meu gente”, winning the Interpretation Prize.
In 2022, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
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