Virginia Maestro
| Virginia Maestro (Virginia Labuat) |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Virginia Maestro Díaz |
| Also known as | Virginia Labuat, La Niña Azul, Viki |
| Born | 29 September 1982 |
| Origin | Linares, Jaén, Spain |
| Genres | Pop, Indie, Jazz, Blues |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | Sony Music, Columbia Records |
| Website | http://www.labuat.com |
Virginia Maestro Díaz (born 29 September 1982) is a Spanish singer-songwriter. She is the winner of Operación Triunfo 2008, a Spanish version of Star Academy.
In 2009, she associated herself with Labuat, a musical project with Risto Mejide, one of the judges of OT, and The Pinker Tones. Many of her recordings are thus credited to Virginia Labuat.
Virgínia has said in various interviews that she was exposed to lots of different kinds of music from an early age, especially those of her parents adolescence. Nowadays, she takes most influence from the 50s and 60s, naming Eva Cassidy, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Solomon Burke, Radiohead, Otis Redding, Ray Charles and Sam Cooke as her favorite artists.
At the age of twelve,influenced by her sisters, she began teaching herself how to play the guitar and she wrote her first songs in a diary, to whom she called "Diario de Sensaciones" (Sensations' Diary). When she was fifteen, she entered in her first band and started to participe in jam sessions. Until her entrance in OT, she had been a part of Fundación Virginia, Little Vicky & the Shout Band, 7Funk, The Flik Flak Duo, Boogie Flu and had shared the stage with such bands as Black Jack Bob & the New Deal and Mingo & The Blues Intruders. Aside from that experiences, she had also been a soprano at the University of Seville choir, where she studied music.
After being turned down on the castings for the second and third series of the contest, finally, in 2008, Virginia Maestro was cast to the sixth series of Operación Triunfo, (roughly Operation Victory) a talent show in Spain. She differentiated herself from other contestants with her distinctive style and song choices, preferring jazz-blues tunes over pop. She was almost voted off the show several times but was saved by the public, until she was named the winner in the finale. During the contest, she gained a fan base who began to call her "La Niña Azul" (the Blue Girl). Therefore, her fan base is often called "La Marea Azul" (the Blue Tide). She is the only contest in history of the OT to reach No.1 on the Spanish iTunes chart, which she accomplished with covers of Creep, My Baby Just Cares For Me and Moonlight Shadow. While in the competition, she received support from Risto Mejide, the most opinionated member of the jury. He would later become the producer of Labuat.
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