Carmelita Madriaga, known as Carmen Costa, (5 July 1920 – 25 April 2007) wa… Read Full Bio ↴Carmelita Madriaga, known as Carmen Costa, (5 July 1920 – 25 April 2007) was a Brazilian singer and composer.

Biography

Born in Trajano de Moraes, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Carmen Costa moved to the state capital at age 15, where she worked as a maid at the house of singer Francisco Alves. She started her musical career encouraged by Alves, inviting her to sing at parties and to participate in radio contests.

Carmen won the amateur singing radio contest presented by [artista]Ary Barroso. She became a professional singer, presenting herself in a duo with composer Henricão.

Her first hit in the 1940s was “Está Chegando a Hora”, a version of the Mexican song “Cielito Lindo”, a song that defined Brazilian ”carnaval” for generations. In 1945, Costa married the American national Hans Van Koehler and moved with him to the United States. She spent a season in Los Angeles and, in 1962 sang at the “Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall concert”, with Antônio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz and João Gilberto, among others.

In 1950 she came back to Brazil, where she met composer Mirabeau Pinheiro, with whom she lived for five years and had her only daughter, Silésia. They worked together on songs like “Cachaça não é água” (being accused of plagiarism) and Obsessão.

The singer also participated in several films, such as "Pra Lá de Boa" (1949), "Carnaval em Marte" (1955), "Depois eu conto" (1956) and "Vou Te Contá" (1958).

In 2003, the City Council of Rio de Janeiro had approved a project by the Museum of the Republic and Costa was proclaimed part of “Brazilian cultural heritage”. For the occasion, she composed the song "Tombamento", which he sang for the Minister of Culture at the time, singer and composer [artistGilberto Gil

On June 2, 2004, in Rio de Janeiro, she participated in the re-inauguration of Rádio Nacional, where she met then former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, together with the " Cantoras do Rádio " (Radio Singers), a generation of Brazilian female artists revealed on Radio Nacional (Brazilian National Radio) as Emilinha Borba, Marlene, Ademilde Fonseca, Adelaide Chiozzo and Carmélia Alves.

She died at Lourenço Jorge Hospital in Rio de Janeiro at the age 86 after a few days in hospital. She suffered from chronic kidney disease and had a cardiac arrest at 6 AM on April 25, 2007.

Tribute

On July 5, 2016, Google celebrated her 96th birthday with a Google Doodle.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Costa