Marija Šerifović is a Serbian singer. Initially rose to prominence as the talented daughter of Serbian folk singer Verica Šerifović, Marija is now recognised as one of the best vocalists of the 21st century in Serbia. She is best known for winning on the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the ballad Molitva, making her Serbia's only Eurovision winner to date. Šerifović has been a judge on Zvezde Granda since 2015. Today she is one of the most famous singer in Serbia, with all of her albums and singles seeing huge success.
Šerifović was born in Kragujevac in central Serbia, the daughter of Rajko Šerifović, a drummer, and Verica Šerifović, a popular singer. Her father was born in Kragujevac, the son of a Muslim father from Vranje and an Orthodox mother, while her mother was born in Kragujevac, into an Orthodox family. Her mother had four miscarriages before having Marija, and her father left her mother for another woman when she was nine months pregnant with Marija and had a son, Marija's half-brother Danijel, with the other woman in 1985. Marija has described her father as an abusive alcoholic that would regularly beat her mother. Marija also had an older half-brother, Dušan Šerifović, from her father's previous marriage. Dušan died in September 2013, aged 42, following a long illness.
In 2013, Šerifović came out as lesbian.