Maria Bethânia facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Maria Bethânia
Maria Bethânia in 2014
Born	Maria Bethânia Viana Teles Veloso (1946-06-18) 18 June 1946 (age 78) Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil
Occupation	Singer songwriter
Years active	1965–present
Parent(s)	Dona Canô (mother)
Relatives	Caetano Veloso (brother)
Musical career
Genres	Bossa nova MPB samba
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	RCA Universal Verve EMI Biscoito Fino Wrasse Sony BMG
Associated acts	Caetano Veloso Gilberto Gil Nara Leão Chico Buarque

Maria Bethânia Viana Teles Veloso (Portuguese pronunciation: [maˈɾiɐ beˈtɐ̃niɐ]; born 18 June 1946) is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. Born in Santo Amaro, Bahia, she started her career in Rio de Janeiro in 1964 with the show "Opinião" ("Opinion"), she is "The Queen of Brazilian Music". Due to its popularity, with performances all over the country, and the popularity of her 1965 single "Carcará", the artist became a star in Brazil.

Bethânia is the sister of the singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso and of the writer-songwriter Mabel Velloso, as well as being aunt of the singers Belô Velloso and Jota Velloso. The singer has released 50 studio albums in 47 years of career, and is among the 10 best-selling music artists in Brazil, having sold more than 26 million records. Bethânia was ranked in 2012, by Rolling Stone Brasil magazine, as the fifth-biggest voice in Brazilian music.

Early life and initial artistic activities

Bethânia is the sixth of eight children born into the family of José Telles Veloso (Seu Zeca), a government official, and Claudionor Viana Telles Veloso (Dona Canô), a housewife.

The name Maria Bethânia was chosen by her brother Caetano Veloso after the homonymous hit song written by composer Capiba and famous at the time in the voice of Nélson Gonçalves.

Maria Bethania, 1965. National Archives of Brazil.

In her childhood, she had aspirations to become an actress. However, her mother was a musician, so music was prevalent in the Veloso household. Though Bethânia was born in Santo Amaro da Purifição, her family moved to Salvador, Bahia when she was 13. The move allowed her to experience the bohemian, intellectual circles of the city, as well as to visit theaters. When she was 16, her brother Caetano Veloso invited her to sing in a film for which he was producing the soundtrack, but she refused. Nevertheless, the film's director, Álvaro Guimarães, liked her voice and invited the young musician to perform in the 1963 Nélson Rodrigues's musical Boca de Ouro. This time Bethânia accepted, and for the first time in her life she went on stage to sing for an audience, opening the play performing a samba by Ataulfo Alves.

That same year, Bethânia and her sister met singers Gilberto Gil and Gal Costa; Caetano had been invited to put on an MPB show to inaugurate the Teatro Vila Velha. The four artists got together and, in 1964, staged Nós, por exemplo (We, for example).

The show was a success and was presented again twenty months later, with the participation of singer-songwriter Tom Zé. That same year, the group mounted another show called Nova Bossa Velha e Velha Bossa Nova (New Old Bossa and Old New Bossa). Still in that year, directed by Caetano and Gil, Bethânia performed another musical, this time on her own, called Mora na Filosofia (Lives in Philosophy).

She began performing again with her brother, as well as Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Tom Zé, at the opening of the Vila Velha Theater in the next year. During one of these performances, the bossa nova musician Nara Leão offered her an opportunity to take her place in a series of performances titled "Opinião".

Career

Maria Bethânia parades for Mangueira at the carnival of 2016.

She released her first single, a protest song called "Carcará", in 1965, the same year that her brother released his first recording. After releasing "Carcará" Bethânia returned from Rio de Janeiro, where she had gone to attend college, to Bahia. This was to only be a brief visit, as around that time she was performing at nightclubs and other venues throughout Brazil. This song also got her an offer from an RCA Records representative to record for the company. However, Bethânia continually changed record labels throughout the 1970s. In 1973 Bethânia released Drama, Luz Da Noite, in which she performed traditional Brazilian songs, as well as incorporating literary elements. In 1977, Bethânia went on tour and released a gold-certified album, both with the name of Pássaro da Manhã. A year later, she released Álibi, which was also gold-certified with over a million copies sold. Around the end of the 1970s, Bethânia became more artistically conservative, moving away from the Tropicalismo music her frequent collaborators, including Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, had been playing. During the 1980s and '90s Bethânia continued to record and perform, with 1993's As Canções Que Você Fez Para Mim becoming the year's most successful album in Brazil.

In 1976, she released a live album with Doces Bárbaros, a Música popular brasileira supergroup. It was recorded June 24 of that year at Anhembi Stadium in São Paulo. Its members were Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia and Gal Costa, four of the biggest names in the history of the Music of Brazil. The band was the subject of a 1977 documentary directed by Jom Tob Azulay. In 1994, they performed a tribute concert to Mangueira school of samba.

French filmmaker Georges Gachot completed a documentary film "Musica é perfume" about her, which was worldwide distributed. In 2008, she recorded an album with the Cuban singer Omara Portuondo which was followed by a Live DVD

In 2015, her album Meus Quintais was nominated for the 16th Latin Grammy Awards in the Best MPB Album category.

Personal life

She moved to Rio de Janeiro alone, at age 17, in 1963, where she lives today. Very discreet, she is not often seen in social events. Currently she lives alone in a residence that she bought in a neighborhood far away, close to the nature and bush, far from the bustle of Rio. The singer does not have children, and is adept to Brazilian religions of African origin, such as the Candomblés.

Discography

Filmography

Motion pictures

• O desafio, de Paulo Cezar Saraceni ("É de manhã" de Caetano Veloso; "Eu vivo num tempo de guerra" de Edu Lobo e Gianfrancesco Guarnieri; "Carcará" de João do Vale e José Cândido, com Zé Keti e João do Vale; "Notícia de jornal")
• Garota de Ipanema
• O homem que comprou o mundo
• Quando o carnaval chegar

Documentaries

• Improvisiert und Zielbewusst / Cinema Novo, ("Só me fez bem")
• Enredando sombras (segmento Cinema Novo)
• Além-mar
• Saravah
• Certas palavras com Chico Buarque'
• Brasil
• Chico e as cidades
• Biblioteca Mindlin - Um mundo em páginas
• O ovo
• Vinicius - Quem pagará o enterro e as flores se eu me morrer de amores
• O sonho acabou [Phono 73 - O canto de um povo]
• Viva volta
• Maria Bethânia: Music Is Perfume

Short films

• A Última Ceia segundo Ziraldo

Tours

See also

In Spanish: Maria Bethânia para niños

• List of best-selling Latin music artists