As we know, only one act can win the big prize each year at our favourite TV show. But some of the performers that get there have already won a competition to get there.
In 2002, our friends in Spain launched Operación Triunfo, after many years of internal selections. The first winner was today’s birthday girl Rosa María López Cortés. She beat several people who actually went to Tallinn as her backing singers. It was a bold new approach to pick a song. and many countries have set up shows based on its format since. As for Rosa, she managed a seventh spot, which gave her country a fairly consistent run in the early part of the 21st Century. Maybe Operación Triunfo will yield that win one day.
Rosa is 43 today.
Feliz cumpleaños, Rosa!