A girl from the Mouraria neighbourhood, she has ‘fado’ in her soul… theatre in her heart, and the freneticism of imported jazz in her legs, she has music in her voice and poetry in her hands… she’s an artist from top to toe.

Mila, as we call her, was born Maria Emília in Rua do Capelão. The daughter of a fishwife and a fado singer father she left her neighbourhood for the stage by a twist of fate. On a certain night, in a club where her father used to sing, a Spanish woman that sung to a guitar fell ill. Mila, with the audacity of someone who grew up between stages and markets, asked the guitar player to play something lively… she sang, danced, embodied the Spanish woman… and the Lisbon girl sang impromptu and packed the house out.

I always had an eye for business and always knew where to find talent, I made Mila one of the stars of Maxime and her fame made her into a diva.

Versatile and like a chameleon, she changes and reinventes herself with each number. Now blonde, then brunette, now singer or dancer, but always Mila the Lisbon girl.