Mimicat, or Marisa Isabel Lopes Mena, is a Portuguese singer-songwriter (although you'll admit that with such a name she could have developed a career as a leading actress in some tear-jerking telenovela).
At the age of sixteen, she first tried to reach the Eurovision stage, when she took part in the Portuguese Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 - when she performed under the stage name Izamena. This performance was not enough for her to qualify for the final and she had to settle for third place in the semi-finals. A decade later, she signed a recording contract with Sony and then released her first album under her new stage name Mimicat.
Her musical influences, she says, come from music giants such as Ella Fitzgerald, Jill Scott and Ray Charles, and her style is defined as a combination of soul and pop touches, although her performance on the Eurovision stage in a red feathered strapless dress was more reminiscent of a cabaret show.
Aside from doing vocal warm-ups with her competitors, Mimicat, 38, can recommend equal deals to them, as she is a singer who also functions as a real estate agent.
Ironically, the person with the word "cat" in her name was a little less lucky and perhaps lost one soul when one of her backup dancers, Renato Novara, was recently involved in a motorcycle accident and could not join the delegation flying to Liverpool. But Show Mast Go On, as is known, and Novara is replaced by dancer Daniel Corinha. She represents the homeland with the song "Ai Coração".
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