As a granddaughter of the Counts of Paraty and Belmonte, she belonged to a family of the most ancient Nobility in the Iberian Peninsula, tracing her roots to the Royal Houses of both Portugal and Castile from the mid-14th century.

In 1938, at the age of 20, Maria Teresa de Noronha was invited by the Portuguese broadcasting company (Emissora Nacional) to perform at a regular biweekly fado program.

She did so uninterruptedly until 1961, with the exception of a four-year pause following her marriage in December 1947 to the Count of Sabrosa, D. José António Guimarães Serôdio, himself an amateur guitarist and, later on, a distinguished composer of fados.

She nevertheless took on several invitations to sing in Monaco (both at the Monte Carlo casino and privately for Princes Rainier and Grace at the Palace), London (BBC and Casa de Portugal), at an homage to Alfredo Marceneiro in 1963 and in RTP in 1968, while continuing to record LPs until 1971.

Maria Teresa de Noronha’s style was to introduce the fados with a simple and clear melody and subsequently to insert a variety of dynamic nuances, hinting the main words with either more intensity, an intimate whisper or briefly suspending her voice.