Carmelia Alves

Carmélia Alves was a Brazilian singer who was known as the "Queen of Baião". She was one of the country's best-known performers of baião, a folk rhythm popular in Northeast Brazil. She started her career in 1950, playing trumpet in nightclubs and recording songs by Billy Blanco, Tom Jobim, Dolores Duran, Johnny Alf and others. She was elected "Queen of the Radio" in 1954 and received the nickname "Sapoti" from President Getúlio Vargas. She was known for her powerful and expressive voice, and for singing the Brazilian genre of samba-canção, along with other singers like Maysa, Nora Ney and Dolores Duran. She collaborated with many musicians, such as Carlos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Luiz Bonfá, Barney Kessel and João Gilberto. She recorded several albums, both in Brazil and in the United States, and received critical acclaim for her expressive and elegant voice and trumpet. She was married for 50 years to singer Jimmy Lester, who died in 1998. They had no children. They performed together throughout the world, including Argentina, Germany and Mexico. Their success in Argentina prompted Alves to open a branch of her recording company in Buenos Aires. In 2000, she formed a group of professional singers from the 1950s. She died in 2012, at the age of 89, due to heart failure. She left behind a legacy of beautiful and influential music, and is considered one of the greatest Brazilian singers of all time.