Biography
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Born
28 December 1989 (age 34)
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Born In
Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
Salvador Vilar Braamcamp Sobral (born 28 December 1989) is a Portuguese singer and a former psychology student. He represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with "Amar Pelos Dois", giving Portugal its first win since their debut in 1964. It was written by Sobral's sister, singer-songwriter Luísa Sobral. He has several times used his public image in favour of refugees crossing Europe.
Sobral was born in Lisbon, into a former noble family the son of Salvador Luís Cabral Braamcamp Sobral, and is related to politician Hermano José Braamcamp de Almeida Castelo Branco. He has lived in Lisbon most of his life. At the age of ten, he participated in the TV programme Bravo Bravíssimo, and at 20 he was one of the ten finalists of Ídolos, the Portuguese version of the Idols franchise. As a finalist he sang music by Stevie Wonder, Leonard Cohen and Rui Veloso. As an Erasmus student (he studied Psychology in the Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, in Lisbon), Salvador moved to Mallorca, where he started singing in bars. After he left the Psychology program, he applied to the Taller de Músics, a music school in Barcelona, where he finished his studies in 2014. In 2015 he participated in the Vodafone Mexefest and EDP Cool Jazz festivals. In 2016 he released his first album, Excuse Me.
Salvador Sobral is a fan of Chet Baker and bossa nova singers (Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque). He speaks four languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English and a little Italian.
Salvador Sobral drew attention to the European migrant crisis by turning up to the first semi-final winners' press conference in an 'S.O.S. Refugees' shirt. 'If I'm here and I have European exposure, the least thing I can do is a humanitarian message,' Sobral said. 'People come to Europe in plastic boats and are being asked to show their birth certificates in order to enter a country. These people are not immigrants, they're refugees running from death. Make no mistake. There is so much bureaucratic stuff happening in the refugee camps in Greece, Turkey and Italy and we should help create legal and safe pathways from these countries to their destiny countries,' he added, earning a round of applause.
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