Marija Šerifović (, ; born 14 November 1984) is a Serbian singer. Born in Kragujevac as the daughter of Verica Šerifović, she rose to prominence in 2003 with her debut album Naj, Najbolja. Šerifović is arguably best known for representing Serbia and winning at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with "Molitva". To date, she has released five studio albums and several standalone singles of predominately balladic songs. Šerifović is recognized as one of the best female vocalists in Serbia. In addition to her singing career, Šerifović has served as the judge on the televised singing competition Zvezde Granda since 2015. Personal life Šerifović was born on November 14, 1984 in Kragujevac to musicians Verica and Rajko Šerifović. According to the column by The Guardian'''s Germaine Greer, she is of Romani descent and has been out as a lesbian since 2004. Šerifović reflected on her sexual orientation as well as on personal struggles, such as domestic abuse from her father, in a documentary film Ispovest, which premiered at Belgrade's Sava Centar in November 2013. She graduated from the First Grammar School in Kragujevac. Career In 1998, Šerifović made her debut with a television performance of the song "Moje bube", which she recorded with her mother. Her debut album Naj, Najbolja, produced by Darko Dimitrov was released in 2003 under City Records. The following year, she won the first prize at Pjesma Mediterana music festival in Budva with "Bol do ludila". In 2006, Šerifović released her sophomore album Bez Ljubavi, and a year later held her first concert in Sava Centar. In March 2007, she gained more significant popularity by winning the Beovizija music festival with "Molitva" and becoming the first representative of the Republic of Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, Finland. In the Eurovision's semi-final on May 7, Šerifović placed first with "Molitva" and thus qualified for the grand final. Subsequently, in the final held on May 12, she was declared the winner with 268 points. Additionally, "Molitva" received the Artistic Marcel Bezençon Award. Šerifović was also ranked among the most deserving winners of Eurovision by the SBS in 2016 and The Independent in 2019, while a fan blog The Eurovision Times declared "Molitva" the third best Eurovision song of all time in 2010. Upon returning home, Šerifović was greeted by more than 70,000 people in front of the Civic Assembly of Belgrade, and later also performed in