Although not the first Euro-dance project to come out of Portugal, Santamaria are certainly not only the most successful, but also the most consistent. To their credit, Santamaria have sold more than 500,000 albums in Portugal during a career spanning roughly a decade. They endured the bile of music critics and even a constant lack of airplay on the biggest Portuguese radio stations to become one of the most popular acts in the country. Formed in Cascais (a coastal city of the Lisbon metropolis) in 1997, Santamaria are the brainchild of producers Luís Marante and Tony Lemos and lead singer Filipa, Lemos' sister. At the time, Lemos was already an experienced studio man, having first emerged on the music scene in a duo with Filipa called Tó & Marlene, playing in county fairs during the summer seasons. Later, Filipa joined the short-lived act Taitibitileus, which managed to score a minor novelty hit with the song "O Meu Abião."