Biography

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Maria Ilieva is a Bulgarian singer and a producer. The singer was a judge on the first, second and third seasons of X factor (Bulgaria). The artiste was born in a family of musicians. Her mother, Vanya Moneva, is the choir-master of the Cosmic Voices from Bulgaria choir and her father, Krasimir Iliev, is the conductor of Sofia Wind Orchestra. Trained pianist and learned solmization since the age of five. She developed her vocal skills as a member of a Choir Academy. The singer became the vocal of the band "Visoko", where she made her first steps on the club scene. At that time, she was invited to lead two musical shows: "Only for you" - a weekly live show on CG TV, and "On the Waves of Music" - a weekly feature of classical music on BNT. Her career as a performing vocal artist started in the late 1990 lead vocalist of the Kaffe Band – best known abroad for representing Bulgaria at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest . A song of the performer won the Best SEE Pop Song at the SEEME Awards in 2010.  A phenomenal success for the single was its reaching the top position at the number 1 Australian dance radio station ZFM’s chart. It was also rotated on the most popular online Argentinean radio station SonicFM. Songs of her went straight to No.1 on MM TV’s TOP 20, premiered on MTV Europe, went on MTV Europe’s World Chart Express, official world premiere at The stars of Europe concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of EU, broadcast on 56 national TV stations worldwide, reached the #1 positions in all the national music charts, stayed at #1 at Eurochannel’s Prime Time Top 10 chart. In 2013 she won awards for Most Stylish Woman from Elle Magazine, Bravo FM Group, Avon and Grazia Magazines. Forbes magazine defines her as the most influential lady in Bulgarian show business for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Fashion icon of Bulgaria from Fashion Lifestyle magazine. Also Best Hairstyle from Pantene Beauty Awards, Best Female Artist from Rhythm Magazine Awards and many other awards. She is also an accomplished actress, appearing in such Hollywood based films like: ‘Inside Out’, “Sofia Residents in Excess”, “Sutreshen blok”, “Submerged”, “Locust”, “The Mechanik”, “Emigrants”.  She was as well Official Avon Sensuelle Brand Ambassador, Official KitKat Senses Brand Ambassador, Official Société Générale Expressbank Brand Ambassador, Official Pantene Pro-V Brand Ambassador. The entertainer was invited to warm up the concerts of world stars such as George Michael, Simple Minds, Danny Minogue, Atomic Kiton, Garaj Mahal and others. She was on stage alongside with artists such as Simple Red, Scorpions, Glen Hughes, UB40, Gipsy Kings, Ducero, Kim Wilde, Spike Edney's All Star Band, Lou Bega, Tony Carreira, James Arthur. In 2007 the singer started a series of concerts with the country's best symphony orchestras. Following are national tours with chamber and symphonic orchestras and numerous club and festival events in the country and abroad. The singer takes part in three concerts at Olympia (Paris) and two at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, where both nights sing in front of over 20,000 people. Maria participates in the last season of "As two drops of water". In May 2019 she won the BG Radio 2019 Music awards for best female singer. She is also a part of the TV show "THE MASKED SINGER" directed by  KIRIL KIROV - KIKO in the role of of detective. The format is already a true global and viral phenomenon with more than half a billion fans worldwide. In each live episode of the show, the popular “detectives” will have to trace every detail of the participants’ performance and to discuss each evidence and assumptions about who is behind the mask.

The 20th Annual Music Awards of BG Radio were handed out at a glamorous ceremony in Kolodrum Hall, Plovdiv on June 11, 2022. Maria Ilieva took the BG Artist Award and presented the song "Love" on the stage in Kolodrum Hall!