Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
We’ve added an internationally-renowned singer, model and broadcaster to our team – all in a day’s work for your local community radio station!
Maria Rubia has now settled down in Brentwood but has lived in many other countries during her life – she is fluent in five languages.
She originally hoped to go into theatre and trained in Swansea alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones. However she got her big break in music when she sang down the phone to a record company executive!
Maria is best known for her song Everytime You Need Me with German dance group Fragma, which reached no 3 in the UK in 2001 and earned her an appearance on Top Of The Pops.
She has performed all around the world with A-list stars such as Michael Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Tina Turner and Robbie Williams.
Her singing career also led her to a modelling career and she has appeared in FHM, Company and OK Magazine, and has also presented and produced on top radio and TV stations including Radio 1, Kiss FM, Capital, Channel 4 and Nickelodeon.
Maria’s musical career isn’t over though – she is still signed to EMI and will be releasing a new album next January.
Maria told me that she became an artist because of her love of music and radio became a natural progression. People from all over the world have been tuning in to her first two shows for Phoenix FM and this gives a new connection that a live artist would not experience.
You can hear Maria every Saturday at 8pm on 98FM and online, and her previous shows can also be heard at phoenixfm.com.
