At the age of 4 years old she sang the Portuguese national anthem ather home in Montijo, a small town located in front of Lisbon on theother side of the river Tejo. Daughter of Lourdes and the bookkeeperTomás Pontes, she was born on the 8th of April of 1969, year in which,in the field of music, the prodigious decade of sixties was poweringdown with the mythic Woodstock festival, the last recordings of TheBeatles ('Abbey Road' and it's famous sleeve of the zebra crossing) andthe murder of an African American member of the audience in Altamont bythe "Hell's Angels", the security staff that The Rolling Stonescontracted. The young Dulce, completely foreign to all those rock musicevents that was trying to change the world, but that should havewoke-up from this dream with the violent decade of seventies, was juststarting to walk in the last years of "salazarismo", in a isle and backwarded Portugal. She was introduced to the fado tradition for her uncleCarlos Pontes, also bullfights lover. He was her maestro. At sevenyears old she started to attend the Conservatorio Nacional de Música ofLisbon and the piano was her favourite instrument and where she studieduntil the forth year. During those years she listened to classicalmusic as such as Portuguese and English popular music. During heradolescence she dedicated for a short period to learn modern dance, buther teachers told that she was too old to become a dancer so shedefinitely decided to be a musician. In Montijo she became the leaderof a urban rock band The "percapita", an amateur project without anyaspirations for the future. The first professionals experiences came upwhen the young singer was chosen among various applicants, tosubstitute the main actress of the musical 'Enfim Sos", in November1988. The rehearse was done at Namouche studios where Dulce will knowher future first producer Guillherme Ines, a prestigious musician whocollaborates among others with Zeca Afonso. She got her first musicalcontract. After have been the leading actress of another musical, shewas invited at TV programs, recording of commercial advertising's andshows at Estoril Casino, where Dulce got the attention for the qualityof her voice, her interpretations of fado and Shirley Bassey's themes.The appreciations of the public began with the TV show 'Regresso aopassado', where she sang song of sixties, among them 'The fool on thehill' of Lennon and McCartney. She did her first decisive step at theEurovison in 1991 where she won the competition with the song 'LusitanaPaixao' , a soul ballad but with a clear homage to fado in its text.This success gave her the passport to represent Portugal at theEurovision Festival that took place in the same year in Rome (atCinecitta), where she obtained the 8th place (the best ranking Portugalhas ever obtained till that edition) and the critics award for the bestperformance.

The following year she published her first CD 'Lusitana' following popmusic style. Is 1993 when she decided to begin her real musical coursewith the CD 'Lagrimas'. The new meeting with Guillherme Ines willbrings to a new result after a large work of recordings in which thefado and the music of Zeca Afonso, the two sides of the Portuguesemusic, lived together in a space that until that moment was prohibitedfor ideological reasons. Amalia Rodriguea and the author of 'GrandolaVila Morena' became her reference point of Portuguese music, althoughin this work we can begin to see Maghribian and Bulgarian influences,and the synthesizers replaced the Portuguese guitar in various songs.The reinterpretation of 'Cançao do mar' was going to be during the nextyears the most universal Portuguese song of all times and with moreinternational versions. The song was part of the soundtrack of theBrazilian soap opera 'As pupilas do Senhor Reitor' (1994). The sameinterpretation of this song of Ferrer Trindade was the main theme ofthe soundtrack of the movie 'Primal fear' (1996), of Gregory Hoblit,with Richard Gere and Edward Norton as main characters.

The most important thing Dulce Pontes obtained with 'Lagrimas' it wasto stimulate a sociological effect that has no precedents, such asre-discover the fado when it was dying and the new generation was notinterested in it. It is not possible to conceive the new-fado of thisfirst decade of XXI century without the decisive contribution of thesinger from Montijo. First Madredeus, with other style, and than DulcePontes, leaded the popularization of the music sang in Portugueselanguage trough all the world.

Dulce began to perform in international tours, traveling all overSpain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, German, Italy, U.S.A., Japan,Brazil. The Italian composer Ennio Morricone, in 1995, invited thesinger to sing the theme 'A brisa do coraçao', as part of thesoundtrack of the movie 'Sostiene Pereira' of Roberto Faenza, withMarcello Mastroianni as main character in one of his last performancesbefore he died.

The collaboration between Pontes and Morricone strengthened forward andhad its climax with a CD signed by both artists. In the vortex of thisspectacular success (more than 300.000 records sold) she recorded in1995 the double live CD 'A brisa do coraçao' live recorded into theColiseu of Porto.

'Caminhos', in 1996, was her last step with the Movieplay editor. TheCD was recorded in four countries and there was the collaboration ofCarlos Nunez, Leonardo Amuedo and Xiradela. But Dulce was not convincedabout the production, because the CD was recorded among airports andconcerts, the artist's aim was a change of path: a more natural andacoustic sound that she developed in her following projects. 'OInfante' that opens the CD is an incredibly inspired Pontes'composition on a Fernando Pessoa's poem.

In 1997 Dulce Pontes did an almost permanent tour and she performed inthe concert 'Yes for Europe', broad-casted by seventeen TV channels, inthe World Food Day organized by the FAO in Rome, in the concert for the52nd United Nations anniversary celebration, in New York, at theconcert for Amnesty International in Madrid. In 1998 she gave her ownconcert for first time in U.S.A. and Canada, and than went, as guestartist, with the Irish group The Chieftains, as clearly requested PaddyMaloney, to their North American tour of that year. She performed atthe First Solidarity Festival of Barcelona, where she knew ElvisCostello. Italy became her second international market after theSpanish one. In the same year she recorded the duet 'O mar e tu'together with Andrea Bocelli. At Lisbon Expo in 1998 she gave twoconcerts, the second one with an audience of 30.000 people. In the sameyear she was invited as guest to sing with Cesaria Évora and with theBrazilian singer Marisa Monte. After her great participation in thefirst CD of the Galician bagpipe and flute player Carlos Nunez 'Airmandade das estrelas', another major Spanish musician, the Basqueaccordionist Kepa Junkera, asked for her because he wanted her voice intwo songs 'Matia nun zira' and the classic from Cabo Verde 'Sodade' inthe CD 'Bilbao 00.00 H'.

She was the author of the soundtrack of the fiction documentary 'CuriuaCatu - A grande Expedicao de Pedro Teixeira', a Portuguese-Brazilianco-production directed for Carlos Barreto, that tells the adventures ofthis explorer who, in the XVII century explored a good part of theAmazon, succeeding in annexing the forest to Portuguese colonialterritory of that period. Her composer side is beginning to spread.

In the month of February and March 1999 she recorded one of herfundamental masterpiece 'O primeiro canto' at Helioscentric studios inLondon. It was the first CD she produced herself with the help ofAntonio Pinheiro da Silva and that was published at the end ofSeptember with Universal. The Uruguayan guitarist Leonardo Amuedo willbe the co-author of some themes together with Dulce. In this work sheunblocked all her talent as a composer. Wayne Shorter, JaquesMorelembaum, Trilok Gurtu, Justin Vali, Kepa Junkera, Waldemar Bastos,Maria Joao, Gemma Bertagnolli, Myrdhin, Anders Norude (of Hedningarna),Hubert Jan Hubeek, among more famous other artists will share Dulce'stalent in this CD, about the four natural elements, and that let herconquer the Jose Afonso award in the year 2000. The CD was launched intwo tours in Spain and Netherlands. She received the new of the deathof Amalia Rodrigues while she was in Barcelona. She sent a deep releaseto the media. At the Auditori of the Catalan Capital she respected aminute of silence before she started the concert. In this same yearDulce gave a concert together with Caetano Veloso at Rio de Janeiro andSao Paulo and she led an ambitious tour in historical monuments ofPortugal. Among the public there was an unknown Mariza who didn't missany concert.

She performed at Hannover Expo, ended an open air 'world' Festival nearBrussels, performed at Istambul and went back to Tokio.

In 2001 Dulce's friendship with Ennio Morricone emphasizes and she tookpart as guest at the Barbican Theatre of London, at the Arena ofVerona, at the Accademia Nazionale of Santa Cecilia of Rome, amongother auditoriums.

She put her voice for the Italian-Spanish co-production 'La luzprodigiosa' , whose author was Ennio Morricone and that won the 25thInternational Cinema Festival of Moscow. In September she canceled herofficial tour in U.S.A. on doctor's order because she was on her 5thmonth of pregnancy. In the occasion of the birth of her first son JoseGabriel, she dedicates the year 2002 to her recent motherhood and shepaused her artistic career. When she came back to performances MaestroEnnio Morricone invites her again. In to Forum studios in Rome, duringthe spring of 2003, they recorded the CD 'Focus' where the artist sangthe still famous themes of the italian composer, and some new songsspecially composed for her. The result of this work was performed inconcert in halls like the Royal Albert Hall of London, the Arena ofVerona, the Auditorium parco della Musica of Rome, at the Mazda Palaceof Milan, the Congress Palace of Paris and the International Forum Hallof Tokio. In Spain the record was near to be gold record (45.000copies).

Finally she performed with her own concert at the Barbican Theatre ofLondon in the month of October of the same year.

In June 2004, the Lisbon City Hall invites Dulce Pontes, EnnioMorricone and the Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra to give a concert. Aboutthis project Morricone said:" I knew that the final result should havebeen a success, but I never imagined that all this experience shouldhave been so exceptional ". The concert took place at the MonsantoPark. In that same year Dulce Pontes obtained the Amigo award for thebest latin performer from the Spanish Asociacion Fonografica yVideografica, and the International award Tenco, awarded from theItalian Club Luigi Tenco, the same prize that was given to artists suchas Jacques Brel, Ute Lemper, Tom Waits, Caetano Veloso, Joan ManuelSerrat. Sergio Godinho together with Dulce are the only two Portugueseartists that received such award. Dulce received the award as 'CulturalOperator' for the recovery of Zeca Afonso And Amalia Rodrigues work,"for her sensible and honest interpretation inside of the best musicaland poetic Portuguese tradition". At the award ceremony Dulce wasintroduced as a 'new fado craftswoman'.

Spain is becoming her first market and between 2004 and 2005 she gavemore than 60 concerts. Madrid is the town of the world where she hasperformed most.

Her artistic maturity, reached without any doubt, became more activeand curious. She goes on with the research of detailed associations forspecial projects, like the event 'Fado Tango' , where Dulce Pontesdivided the scenario of the Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon with theArgentinian poet and historian Horacio Ferrer, who, together with AstorPiazzolla, have revolutionized the Argentinian Tango. About Dulce'sperformance of his song 'Balada para un Loco' the poet said: "Sherecreated it in a such way that, for the first time, I am beginning tolearn something of my own song. This work is a confidence and shesucceeded in performing the poet... ".

Greece became a Country that acclaims to the singer with passion andher performances at Athens and Thessalonica are real milestones. Thefamous singer George Dalaras, one of the most prestigious artist ofthis Country, invited her at the Greek Festival in 2005, at the HerodesAtticus Odeon at the Acropoli. About that concert it was published theCD 'Mediterraneo' in which Dulce sings in six songs and the same Dulceawarded Dalaras with the platinum record in a ceremony that took placein Athens. She was working at her new double CD untitled 'O coracao temtres portas', that it has been recorded live during the new tour 'Pordentro do fado', where the artist recovered her love and a newperspective about this genre, and a second CD recorded into the SantaMaria's Church of Obidos and into the Convento de Cristo of Tomar, withrapprochements of Fado to classic music, folk and medieval sounds.

Her first official U.S.A. tour took place during the recordings of thisCD in the October 2005. The musical reviewers praised the artist onprestigious publications such as 'The Boston Globe' or the Los Angeles'Variety', where the writer Phil Gallo defined her as a mix betweenElla Fitzgerald and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

In December 2006 'O coracao tem tres portas' (double CD and a DVD) waslaunched on the market in Portugal self edited for Dulce Pontes, afterhaving ended her contract with Universal. The CD will be gold recordand received best reviews of the international specialized press suchas 'Songlines' or enter in the European World Music Charts top-20. Apart of the music of the CD n. 2 was sed for the Spanish directorAlberto Luna for the documentary 'Juan de Castillo, el constructor delmundo'. In that same year she made her second U.S.A. tour and made herdebut at the prestigious Carnegie Hall of New York with a greatsuccess. John Pareles, reviewer of the 'The New York Times', wrote:"Miss Pontes has an extraordinary voice: intense and faithful, delicateand strong, with a length like a natural soprano". And added to hispraiseworthy commentary: "Pontes was surprised about she succeeded inmanaging the public of the Carneige Hall, when she invited them to singand the public smiled. And also, when she sang with tears and sorrow,she passed them happiness, sign of a characteristic Portugueseinheritance".

The organization of the "New Seven World Wonders" asked to Dulce Pontesto compose the official Anthem that she recorded together with theSpanish Tenor Jose Carreras. The event was performed at Estadio da Luzof Lisbon, and was one of the most seen TV transmission of the history.The year 2007 ended with a tremendous performance at the 'Aula Magna'of Caracas and another one in Paris, but she also put a musical"brooch" at the Signature of the Tratado de Lisboa into the Mosteirodos Jeronimos cloister.

The year 2008 begins of course with live concerts. Stands out herperformance at Festival Cultural de Zacatecas (Mexico) where she sharedthe list with Bob Dylan, and her first concert in Moscow at theInternational House of Music. During the summer there was the Spanishtour together with the Spanish flamenco singer Estrella Morente. 'DulceEstrella' brought more than 50.000 persons in the various concerts theygave, where the music of both Countries where twinned. Estrella Morenterepeated many times, to the media, that Dulce "es mi maestra" ("is mymaestro"). And at the beginning of the 2009, the artist from Montijobecame mother once more, this time she had a daugther named Maria, soshe celebrated her 20 years with music with the editing of the doubleCD 'Momentos' with inhedited material and some new versions of songslike 'Cancao do mar', 'Lsgrima' and 'O Infante'. The CD was publishedin Portugal reaching the gold record. Some days after the paunch ofthis new CD Dulce was invited as guest, together with Juliette Grecoand Randy Crowford, at the opening ceremony of the Wiener Festwochen inVienna. In September she performed in a concert at the Herodes AtticusOdeon of Athens together with the Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco Penaand the greek Bouzouki player Thanassis Polykandriotis, in an eventwhere they mixed together the most representative musical styles oftheir own Countries. A month later she collaborated with the U.S.A.composer and Grammy Winner 2010 Christopher Tin, at the CD 'Calling alldawns' recording the song "Se e pra vir que venha". The music wasplayed by the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra, that recorded at the mythicAbbey Road Studios of London. A time later, the song 'Fado Morna daCirandaia' that Dulce composed together with Beto Betuk, was includedinto the prestigious compilation "Muzyka Swiata: Siesta 5" thatUniversal Poland publishes each year. The year ended with the importantperformance of Dulce Pontes at a record homage of Latin American femalesingers to Joan Manuel Serrat, with the version of 'Bendita Musica'.

The 2010 year started with new spirit and the international edition of'Momentos' . The German Editor Galileo Music has the most part of therights and Spain is one of the Countries where this label willdistribute the CD starting from March. The changes of this version arein the cover and the style of the inlay booklet. Dulce Pontes alsorenewed her live performances in Galicia in February, than she went onin Spain at Catalonia, with a concert in Girona and another one at themythical Palau de la Musica of Barcelona and after two years she metagain italian public in Lecce. Without doubt she is at present, thebest Portuguese and one of the most important singer of the world.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Maxi de la Pena