Cádiz, Spain

April 28, 2001

Winner of the first season of Spain's La Voz Kids, a television vocal competition that is essentially a child's version of The Voice, María Parrado, then 12 years old, found herself at the center of a controversy when a photo of her holding the winner's check of 10,000 euros showed up on social networks before the competition's final episode was aired, a possible breach of her performer's contract with the producers of La Voz Kids, although there was no indication that Parrado was responsible for the early leak of the photo. She was officially the winner, though. Signed to Universal Music, her eight-track debut album, María Parrado, appeared early in 2014. ~ Steve Leggett