Niña Pastori

María Rosa García was born in 1978 in the town of San Fernando in Cadiz The youngest of five siblings and only daughter of a military man José García and flamenco singer La Pastori García Her stage name is Niña Pastori because among her siblings of four older brothers she was the only woman and she was referred to as la niña she was also la única hija de la Pastori the only daughter of la Pastori and when she went on stage people remarked va a cantar la niña de la Pastori la Pastoris girl is going to sing Her initial name was La niña de la Pastori but she later changed it to Niña Pastori She started her artistic career at a young age singing in Andalusia At the age of six she accompanied her mother in the flamenco tablaos of Barrio de la Pastora and a year later won a singing contest at the El Chato club in San Fernando where she sang bulerías a flamenco style and won first prize In doing so she showed that she had skills despite her early age Among her first mentors was Camarón de la Isla also from San Fernando Cádiz whose purist flamenco style she followed in her early years Later she added a more commercial pop tone to her image and style without losing her flamenco roots Artists Paco Ortega and Alejandro Sanz helped her produce her first album Entre dos puertos when she was seventeen and with whom sold more than 150000 units achieving commercial popularity Part of this was due to the single Tú me camelas which was a hit in Spain in summer 1996 Since then she has recorded ten albums and has sold two million records