Influences and early career

Virgínia has said in various interviews that she was exposed to a variety of music from an early age, especially those of her parents' adolescence. Nowadays, she takes most influence from the 1950s and 1960s, naming Eva Cassidy, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Solomon Burke, Radiohead, Otis Redding, Ray Charles and Sam Cooke as her favorite artists.^[1]

At the age of twelve, influenced by her sisters, she began teaching herself how to play the guitar and she wrote her first songs in a diary, to whom she called "Diario de Sensaciones" (Sensations' Diary). When she was fifteen, she entered in her first band and started to participate in jam sessions. Until her entrance in OT, she had been a part of Fundación Virginia, Little Vicky & the Shout Band, 7Funk, The Flik Flak Duo, Boogie Flu and had shared the stage with such bands as Black Jack Bob & the New Deal and Mingo & The Blues Intruders.^[2] Aside from that experiences, she had also been a soprano at the University of Seville choir, where she studied music.^[3]

Operación Triunfo 2008

After being turned down on the castings for the second and third series of the contest,^[4] finally, in 2008, Virginia Maestro was cast to the sixth series of Operación Triunfo, (roughly Operation Victory) a talent show in Spain. She differentiated herself from other contestants with her distinctive style and song choices, preferring jazz-blues tunes over pop. She was almost voted off the show several times but was saved by the public, until she was named the winner in the finale. During the contest, she gained a fan base who began to call her "La Niña Azul" (the Blue Girl). Therefore, her fan base is often called "La Marea Azul" (the Blue Tide). She was the first contest in history of Operación Triunfo (also known as OT) to reach number one on the Spanish iTunes chart, which she accomplished with covers of "Creep", "My Baby Just Cares For Me" and "Moonlight Shadow".^[5] While in the competition, she received support from Risto Mejide, the most opinionated member of the jury. He would later become the producer of Labuat.

Labuat

After winning OT and earning a contract with Sony BMG, she became part of the musical project Labuat, which opened for Beyoncé in Spain in May 2009.^[6] Her music video of Soy Tu Aire, the first single from the album, is an Internet sensation. In June 2009, "De Pequeño" was released as the second single. " She made an appearance in the sixth gala of OT 2009 singing the song. Also in June, it was announced that a second album is being prepared and that Risto Mejide would not be involved.^[7] Carta de Otoño", the only song composed solely by her, was released as the third and last single in October 2009. The first album of the band was nominated for best album of the year.^[8]
In March 2010, during an interview for OperacionTriunfo.com, Maestro announced that, due to time conflicts, the Pinker Tones will not produce the new album, leaving her as the only initial member of the band working on the second album. She has also confirmed the album will include her own compositions, in both Spanish and English.^[9]

In October 2010, Maestro announced the title of the second album, "Dulce Hogar" (Sweet Home, in Spanish) and that she would use the moniker Virginia Labuat. The first single debuted on 25 January 2011 in Europa FM and was available for download on 8 February 2011, and the whole album was released on 29 March 2011. A limited special edition of the album includes an EP with a few rare songs she had performed live during the previous years, as well some Spanish versions of the English songs. Shortly after the release, the album was already on Spanish Top Charts.

Albums

As part of Labuat

Solo

Singles

as part of Labuat

Solo