Sofiya Marinova Kamenova (, ), known professionally as Sofi Marinova () is a Bulgarian pop-folk and ethno-pop singer. She is often called "the Romani pearl" and "the Romani nightingale". In February 2012, she won the Bulgarian Eurovision national final with the song "Love Unlimited", and went on to represent Bulgaria in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan. She has collaborated with many other Bulgarian singers such as Preslava, Azis, and Toni Storaro.
Sofi Marinova was born 5 December 1975 in Sofia, Bulgaria, although her family was living near Etropole at the time. She displayed musical talent at the age of two and was tutored in singing and dancing by her mother. In primary school, Marinova was an excellent pupil. She spent a year at a professional builders' school. After 8th grade, she moved to a professional school for tailors, though years later she admitted she never liked sewing. While at school, Marinova fell for acting, appearing in school musicals such as Snow White. When she was in 10th grade, a local band offered her the position of lead singer. Her father didn't allow it at first but relented after the insistence of her mother: "I started crying and my mother supported me, because when she married my father she put an end to her singing career".
At age 17, Marinova began singing at weddings and christenings. Her repertoire included songs from Dragana MirkoviÃÂ, Michael Jackson, Sandra, and Whitney Houston, as well as Romani music. Around this time she and the band took part in a music competition in the village of Osikovitsa near Sofia. She won the singers event and the admirations of the jury, chaired by the famous Bulgarian Romani musician Angelo Malikov. At the competition she also met Petar, a drummer, who later became the father of her only child, Lorenzo. After Osikovitsa, Marinova won the Grand prize at the Stara Zagora festival with her songs "Stari rani" (Old wounds) and "Slanchitse moe" (My Little Sun).
Marinova was introduced to the big stage by Nencho Kasamov, president of the record company Ara Music, after he saw her performing in a restaurant. Kasamov invited her to record for Ara, because he sensed the future music star in her "by the look in her eyes." Marinova and her band recorded for Ara the album Stari rani, which is believed to be one of the best-selling music albums in Bulgaria of all time.
In 2004, Marinova signed with Sunny Music, working with the producer Krum Krumov. She recorded the albums 5 oktavi lyubov and Obicham. Her collaboration with the Bulgarian hip-hop musician Ustata resulted in some of her most successful songs. In that period, she also recorded a Romani cover of "Vetrove" by Lili Ivanova, Bulgaria's most established music artist. The compilation Sofi Marinova Best MP3 Collection consisting of her 64 most popular songs from her Sunny Music period, was released in 2009. She stated that she was "happy that my project was accomplished and I hope my fans accept it as a gift for their loyalty and love for me for so many years."
On 28 March 2012, as part of the pre-celebrations for the International Romani Day, Sofi Marinova sang Romani songs and her Eurovision song "Love Unlimited" in front of MEPs and official guests in the building of the European Parliament in Brussels. She was invited there by the MEPs from Bulgaria.
In 2008, Marinova and Ustata joined a campaign against human trafficking, for which they recorded "Chuzhdi ustni" (A Stranger's Lips). Both of them travelled around Bulgaria and met with youth in the risk groups for becoming victims of human trafficking. In 2010, Marinova was appointed ambassador against poverty and social isolation. Her tasks include raising awareness about the issues, taking part in various activities and sharing her own experience. On her appointment she told the journalists: "I think I can be useful to the campaign. In addition I myself come from a poor family and I'm aware of the concerns of poor and underprivileged people."
Marinova has one son, Lorenzo, with whom she has released a collaboration single. She was married once (to Lorenzo's father Petar). She then had a long-term relationship with Dacho, who is Petar's eldest son. They tried to marry two times, but they didn't and finally broke up in 2010. She is well known for her honest and direct answers to media's questions in interviews.
Sofi Marinova was chosen to represent Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku in May 2012 with the song "Love Unlimited". She won the national final, which was held on 29 February, receiving a total of 20 points - the maximum 12 points from the public and 8 points from the jury. She was one of the favourites to win after coming second in the public vote in the semifinals. "Love Unlimited" was written by Yassen Kotsev and Krum Georgiev. Its lyrics talk about the transcending and all-embracing power of love. The song is primarily in Bulgarian but contains the phrase "I love you" in Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French, Romani, English, Azerbaijani, Italian and Arabic. The song is characterized by the typical Romani glides, vocal power and techno musical arrangement. Marinova performed in the first half of the second semifinal on 24 May and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the grand final, finishing 11th place and scoring the same number of points as Norway who got through in tenth place.
This was Marinova's third appearance in the Bulgarian national finals for Eurovision. In 2005, her collaboration with Slavi Trifonov "Edinstveni" (Only Ones) finished second. They tried again the following year with the song "Lyubovta e otrova" (Love Is the Poison), but fell out in the qualifications after taking 25th place, one place short of the semi-final. In 2007, her collaboration with Ustata, "Ya tvoya" (I'm Yours), finished third in the national final.
Solo albums
Albums with the band Super Express
.* â Romani language albums
Compilations
The MP3 album Golden Hits contains all the songs from Sofi Marinova's first five solo albums plus some songs from her albums with Super Express and a few other songs.