Josy Santos was born in Bahia (Brazil). The Brazilian mezzo-soprano has had an extremely remarkable career in Latin America and Europe, which has received numerous positive reviews from experts. She began her vocal training in São Paulo with the singing teacher Marcia Soldi. She completed her Bachelor's degree in voice at the University Cruzeiro do Sul. Her further studies led her to the HfMDK Frankfurt am Main to Prof. Ursula Targler-Sell, where she completed her Master with distinction. In 2019 she began her opera concert exam at the HfMDK in Frankfurt am Main.

This season, the Brazilian mezzo-soprano Josy Santos will make her role debut as Idamante in Idomeneo at the Lucerne Theater, and she will also debut at the Semperoper Dresden in the role of Orlowski in Die Fledermaus. The highlight of the season will take place at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, where she will perform as Adalgisa in Norma. Additionally, she will debut as Conception in L'heure espagnole at TOBS.

Highlights of the previous season include her house debut as Dorabella in Così fan tutte at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as the special song recital "Two Worlds in Songs" with pianist Markus Hadulla, featuring works by Dvořák, Mahler, Ginastera, Braga, and Nepomuceno, presented in the concert series at the Mozarteum Brasileiro in Brazil.

In the 2022/23 season, the mezzo-soprano made her house debut at the Zurich Opera House as Witness 2/Singer 2/Woman 2 in Benjamin's Lessons in Love and Violence and in her home country at the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo as Dorabella in Così fan tutte.

During the 2021/22 season, Josy Santos performed at the Royal Danish Opera as Angelina in La Cenerentola, as a mezzo-soprano in Verdi's Requiem and Viva Verdi! at KKL Lucerne, as Dorabella in Così fan tutte at the Lucerne Theater, as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro at the Frankfurt Opera, as Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi and as Glutz in Burkhard's Casanova in Switzerland at TOBS Biel Solothurn.

From 2017 to 2019, Josy Santos was a soloist at the Hannover State Opera, where she performed roles such as Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, La Marchesa Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Page in Salome, Musician in Manon Lescaut, Robin in Offenbach's Le roi Carotte, and Frau von Hufnagel in Hans Werner Henze's Der junge Lord. She also appeared as Silvia in Haydn's L'isola disabitata at the Rheingau Music Festival, as Dardano in Handel's Amadigi di Gaula at the Chamber Opera Schloss Rheinsberg, and in the title role of Rossini's La Cenerentola at the Opera Schloss Hallwyl. At the Opéra National du Rhin, she performed as Samaritana in Riccardo Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini and returned there in 2018/2019 as Bernardo Cenci in Ginastera's Beatrix Cenci. The production was awarded the 2019 Grand Prix for the best performance of the year by Le Syndicat Professionnel de la Critique.

Josy Santos is a prizewinner of various competitions, including the 2019 Concours International de Chant Toulouse, the 2018 Operalia, the 2018 Emmerich Smola Förderpreis, the 2017 Anneliese Rothenberger Competition, and she was a finalist in the 2017 Belvedere Competition. As a member of the Opera Studio at the Stuttgart State Opera from 2015 to 2017, she had the opportunity to sing important roles such as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Siebel in Faust, Oberto in Alcina, and Second Maid in Elektra.

She has also participated in international festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival, the Chamber Opera Schloss Rheinsberg, the Festival de Trancoso, and the Opera Schloss Hallwyl.