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Marija Šerifović (born 14 November 1984) is a Serbian singer and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
She was born in 14 November 1984 in Kragujevac, Serbia (then SR Serbia, Yugoslavia). Her mother Verica Šerifović is also a notable singer, who is of Serbian and Romani heritage. Marija's father, Rajko, is of Turkish origin.
Šerifović won the Beovizija 2007 with the song "Molitva" (meaning "Prayer" in English) on 8 March, winning the combined votes of the jury and televoting and thus qualified to be the first representative of newly independent Serbia in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, Finland. The song was also recorded in English as "Destiny" and in Finnish as "Rukoilen". There is also a Russian version of the song called Molitva.
As a part of her Eurovision Song Contest promotional tour, Šerifović visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, Switzerland and Greece. Although a promotional video was originally planned, a documentary film will be made which will include both the music video and the preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest.
On 12 March, the draw of the running order for the semi-final and the final was held. Serbia was the 15th country to participate in the semi-final, and qualified for the final, where they presented their song in the 17th position, following Germany and preceding Ukraine. Her song "Molitva" (Prayer) won the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
When she landed at the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, 70,000-100,000 people prepared a mass rally for her in front of the Civic Assembly of Belgrade.
She held a concert in her birth town Kragujevac on 25 May in front of the town hall. She performed in front of about 60,000 people who came to celebrate the triumph at Eurovision. She explained that the concert was very different in Kragujevac, because in that town, she sang before her friends, colleagues, teachers, neighbours and those whom she generally recognised in her every-day life.
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