Maria Cordero

Biography

Maria was born to a Macanese family of Portuguese-Chinese blood at the Hospital Conde S. Januário in Macau in 1954. She is of paternal Portuguese descent. Her family moved to Shelley Street, Hong Kong when she was ten years old. When she was eleven her father died in Cordero, and she began working to support her seven brothers and sisters. She resorted to using identity cards from friends, because the legal working age in Hong Kong was 14. Her first job was as an usher for a local cinema.

While working as a hotel telephone operator, she came across the opportunity to learn the bass guitar. The hotel resident band found out and hired her to play at night after she auditioned. For several years she worked a triple job of telephone operator in the day, band player at night, and working as a cashier. But she also worked as a line cook for takeaway contractors for office workers, thus having excellent cooking skills, which led to her having hosted 3 food and cuisine shows.

She married a widowed Filipino pianist and bandmate 22 years her senior when she was in her late teens. She is the mother of six children (two boys with her husband, two boys and two girls from her husband's previous marriage)

Her eldest son Alfonso Bibi Cordero (Chinese: 高進一) is a member of the Hong Kong Hockey Team which won the bronze medal in the 2009 East Asian Games.

Singing and movie career

Maria's singing career began after word spread about her singing ability at a newly opened disco in 1985. Offers of recording contracts, movie roles, and stage performances came after a string of hits which began with a tailor made song written for her by director and songwriter Teddy Robin, titled "Sai Hei". Parts of this song was also used in one of Edison Chen's track 嘥氣 (Waste of breath).

Songs