Daniela Mercuri de Almeida Verçosa (born July 28, 1965 in Salvador, Bahia, … Read Full Bio ↴Daniela Mercuri de Almeida Verçosa (born July 28, 1965 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil), best known as Daniela Mercury, is a Brazilian axé, samba-reggae and MPB singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, entrepeneur, producer, poet, philanthropist and activist for LGBTQ+ rights. For her pioneering of the axé genre, she is also known as the "Queen of Axé."

Since her breakthrough, Mercury has become one of the best known Brazilian female singers, selling over 20 million albums worldwide. Daniela has a degree in dance from the Federal University of Bahia, having started her studies in this art since she was four years old, later becoming a teacher of jazz, modern and classical ballet, besides having specialized and performed in other genres, such as Afro Dance and contemporary dance. She began singing professionally at the age of fifteen, the same age at which she rode a trio elétrico for the first time, integrating her career as singer and dancer.

She released her eponymous album in 1991, followed by O Canto da Cidade in the following year, leveraging her career as a national artist and bringing the axé music genre to the forefront. Over the years, she released several albums, generating great hits like "Swing da Cor", "O Canto da Cidade", "À Primeira Vista", "Rapunzel", "Nobre Vagabundo", "Ilê Pérola Negra (O Canto do Negro)", "Mutante", "Maimbê Dandá", "Levada Brasileira", "Oyá Por Nós", among others. She recorded a DVD commemorating 25 years of Cirque du Soleil and was part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. In addition, she participated in Alejandro Sanz's album and sang with Paul McCartney in Norway during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Winner of a Latin Grammy for her album Balé Mulato - Ao Vivo, she also received six Brazilian Music Awards, an APCA award, three Multishow awards, and two VMB awards, for best music video and photography. On television she was a judge and mentor for the talent shows Popstars, Superstar, and The Voice Kids Portugal.

In 2013, Daniela released in partnership with her wife Malu Verçosa, whom she married in Portugal the same year, her first book, Daniela e Malu: Uma História de Amor.

Attentive to the Brazilian social reality and with a great desire to contribute to the preservation of our cultural matrices, Daniela created her Institute "Sol da Liberdade" in 2008. Today, in partnership with UNICEF and ESPN Brasil, the ISL carries out the Caravana da Música project. The Caravana da Música is an itinerant project that has been touring Brazil since 2007, visiting one city every month. The cities to be visited are indicated by UNICEF, according to the HDI (Human Development Index) and the IDI (Child Development Index). In each of the cities visited, the "Music Caravan" sets up a large infrastructure where it offers 3,000 children an unprecedented experience with dance, music, theater, instrument building, circus art, and several other artistic experiences. In addition to the children, the Music Caravan also offers training in Art Education for 250 public school teachers from each of the visited cities. The Music Caravan has already directly assisted more than 50 thousand children and 30 thousand teachers. Considering that each public school teacher trained by the Caravan becomes an Art Education multiplier, it is estimated that the Music Caravan has already indirectly reached more than half a million Brazilians. All the activities of the Music Caravan in the countryside of Brazil are recorded by the ESPN Brazil team, which broadcasts a monthly documentary about the project's activities. The documentary is shown in Brazil and in 157 other countries.

Besides presiding the Instituto Sol da Liberdade, Daniela is also UNICEF's National Goodwill Ambassador, a title she received in 1995, when she became the second Brazilian personality to receive such honor. She has also participated in several benefit shows in favor of children, among them the UNICEF/ Rede Globo's Criança Esperança and the AACD/SBT's Teleton. Part of the rights to her 1998 album Elétrica were donated to UNICEF. She is also an ambassador for the Ayrton Senna Institute. Daniela has also participated in other charitable projects, not directly linked to children. On October 7, 2003, she took part in the show Solidariedade Brasil-Noruega in favor of Fome Zero at the National Theater, in Brasilia. She is also connected to the NGO América Latina em Ação Solidária (ALAS), having participated in September 2007 in an advertising campaign promoting aid to the earthquake victims in Peru. In 2013 she was invited to participate in the UN global campaign, Free & Equal, along with Ricky Martin and other international artists.