Until her late teens, Mísia lived in her home town, singing occasionally in fado houses, always as an amateur.

When she was almost 20, she moved, for family reasons, to Barcelona and, later, to Madrid. Her artistic streak was already quite evident, leading her to get involved in music, dance, music hall and television productions. However, the vocation that would make her famous had not yet materialised. It was in 1991 that this path began to be trodden, when Mísia decided to return to Portugal, settling in Lisbon, determined to build her own repertoire within the universe of fado.

Never forgetting the revelation that traditional fado meant to her as a teenager spent in Porto, Mísia felt, on her return to Portugal, that instead of relying on the successes of artists she admires, she should create her own repertoire. Thus begins what, according to journalist and writer Manuel Halpern, will come to be called the New Fado.

Imbued with this spirit of mission, Mísia personally contacts Portuguese poets and composers, singer-songwriters, photographers, designers and stylists, presenting them with her vision of fado.

Among the Portuguese cultural figures who have agreed to write specifically for her voice are Nobel Prize winners José Saramago, Agustina Bessa-Luís, José Luís Peixoto, Lídia Jorge, Vasco Graça Moura, Mário Cláudio, Paulo José Miranda, Hélia Correia and Amélia Muge, as well as musicians Jorge Palma, Vitorino and Sérgio Godinho, among others.

Internationally it also received significant attention: Patrice Leconte directed one of its video clips, John Turturro chose it for his film Passione, William Christie programmed it at the Cité de la Musique in Paris.

At a time when everything was still to be done to consecrate fado in the world, since outside Portugal the only reference the public had to this musical genre was the great Amália Rodrigues, Mísia began to conquer her own space in the national song.

For years on end, she consolidated a national and international career, performing on stages of great prestige worldwide, with highlights including the National Theatre of São Carlos, in Lisbon, the Town Hall in New York, the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam, the Maria Guerrero Theatre in Madrid, the Palau de la Musica, in Barcelona, the Cour d’Honneur du Palais des Papes, in Avignon, the Piccolo Theatre, in Milan and the Coccoon Theatre in Tokyo. In Paris, she left her mark in venues such as the Olympia, the Thêatre des Bouffes du Nord (with programming by Peter Brook) and the Cité de La Musique, contributing to the enrichment of modern day Fado and to its recognition. During this journey, Mísia respects tradition, transporting it, at the same time, to the periphery of a contemporaneity, both in form and content.