Marbella's mayor sings student Samantha's praises

May 7 2008 Report by Gary Fanning

A HAMILTON student’s song about the positive aspects of life in Marbella is a huge hit with the mayor of the Spanish town.

Samantha Mairs’ song ‘Marbella Marbella’ has been praised by Angles Munoz, the new mayor of Marbella.

Samantha, a student of communication and business studies at the University of the West of Scotland in Almada Street, couldn’t believe her eyes when she opened a letter from Marbella Town Hall.

The letter from the mayor thanks Samantha for the song and wishes her every success in the future.

Dario Poli — a Scottish composer, author and painter — was inspired to write the song after he watched a documentary on CNN portraying a negative image of Marbella and the Costa del Sol.

He wanted to do something about it and penned the song about his affection for the town.

Samantha was pleased to record the song and it has now been played on most radio stations across Europe.

She added: “I hope that a recording company will take the song and make it as popular as Viva Espana.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of Europe was signing the praises of Marbella instead of receiving one-sided negative press.”

Following Dario’s meeting with music arranger and producer David Maris, they added the lyrics and registered the song with S.G.A.E in Malaga.

David, Samantha’s father, then held auditions in his Fungirola studio to find a vocalist.

He then presented a selection of CDs to Dario to make his choice.

What David didn’t realise was that Samantha had also made a recording and it was such a huge hit with Dario that her version was perfectly suited for the song.

Samantha is originally from Motherwell.

About 17 years ago, her family moved to the Costa del Sol.

She she started her singing career there and quickly displayed a talent for entertaining holidaymakers and residents.

She sang and acted in numerous stage presentations and along with her father David, a professional musician, sang on BBC’s Songs of Praise.

Samantha also had her own late-night show on Central FM and soon became one of the Costa del Sol’s top entertainers.

She returned to Motherwell in 2001 and, after becoming established as a well-known personality vocalist, returned to full-time education at university where she is studying for a degree.

For more information on the Costa del Sol and to get a copy of Samantha's cd, please log onto www.costadelsolvoice.com or email costadelsolvoice@hotmail.com