Ana Paula Valadão

Life and career

Ana Paula Valadão is the daughter of Pastors Márcio Valadão and Renata Valadão, pastors and founders of the Lagoinha Church. She is the older sister of André Valadão and Mariana Valadão. She started her music career by participating in a group called King's Kids and her first album was Expressão de Fé, recorded by the King's Kids. Some time later, she participated in the choir El-Shammah and recorded the album Ele Tem Sido Fiel.

Valadão studied Law at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), but locked up the course in 1996, and therefore decided to attend the Christ for the Nations Institute (CFNI) located in the state of Texas in the United States. When she returned to Brazil, she began writing songs, and she recorded her first album entitled Diante do Trono in 1998. Its creation marked the beginning of the group Diante do Trono. Ana Paula married the pastor Gustavo Bessa on September 13, 2000, one year and eleven months after they met. Afterward she struggled to conceive and portrayed this difficulty in her CD Esperança, especially in the title track "Esperança". While recording her next CD, Ainda Existe Uma Cruz, Ana Paula was pregnant with her first son Isaque Valadão Bessa, who was born on January 3, 2006, and on May 23, 2009 her second son, Benjamim Valadão Bessa was born.

In August 2009, Ana Paula and her family moved to Dallas, Texas where her husband continued his ministerial studies.> However, she explained at the official website of Diante do Trono that she decided that she would not leave the band and would continue to appear in all the group's main events. In May 2011, the family returned to Brazil.

Ana Paula Valadão has received more than 32 awards on behalf of her group. In 2004, of the 8 nominations that were submitted for Troféu Talento (a Brazilian award similar to the Dove Awards) she won 7, and was also nominated for awards in various categories in the 38th GMA Dove Awards for the album In The Father's Arms, though she won none. Diante do Trono has traveled to several countries in America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Throughout its history, Ana Paula has remained head of the ministries, compositions and organizations of the group.

In July 2012 Ana Paula Valadão was considered one of the 100 most important Brazilians of all time by the Brazilian television network SBT in partnership with the BBC, where through the Internet the public suggested names of people who should be considered the great icons of Brazil. Ana Paula has occupied the 97th position and participated in the program (with the name, O Maior Brasileiro de Todos os Tempos; English translation: The Greats) by singing on Brazilian national television. In July 2013, the singer was in a meeting with the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, with other Christian representatives of the nation. In December of that year, Ana Paula was cited by the American publication Forbes as the 89th most influential celebrity in Brazil.

In September 2015, Ana Paula Valadão was invited by the Christian Embassy of Jerusalem to minister at the Feast of Tabernacles in Ein-Ged desert. At the event there were representatives of 95 nations, the singer participated representing Brazil and Latin America. Earlier in the same year, the singer had been invited to attend the global conference Empowered21 held in Israel. At the end of 2015, Ana Paula and her family moved back to Dallas, where the singer serves as a teacher at CFNI and worship pastor at Gateway Church. In this new period, the singer has ministered in diverse chapels and conferences by the United States, as at IHOPKC, Oral Roberts University, among others. She has also participated in television materials of CBN and Daystar Television Network.

Diante do Trono

Valadão is the leader and lead singer of the worship ministry Diante do Trono since 1997, when it was founded in the Lagoinha Church. The band has sold over 15 million albums, has received over 32 awards and is regarded internationally as the greatest worship ministry in Latin America and one of the world's greatest. The Diante do Trono has attracted more than 7 million people only in their annual recordings.

Discography

Participation in International Albums

Television program