Angela Maria

Ângela Maria held the title of Brazil’s foremost vocalist throughout the 1950s, a ranking confirmed by the established opinion-research institute IBOPE. Listeners and critics alike praised her exceptional vocal gifts and singular interpretive manner, leading many to regard her as the country’s greatest singer ever. The successive waves of bossa nova, Tropicália, and Jovem Guarda left her professional path undisturbed.

Raised as the daughter of a Protestant minister, she joined church choirs in childhood. Because her relatives opposed her desire to perform, she earned a living as a weaver. Around 1947 she began appearing on radio talent contests, including Pescando Estrelas on Rádio Clube do Brasil, Hora do Pato on Rádio Nacional, and Ary Barroso’s program on Rádio Tupi. Performing under the pseudonym Ângela Maria to keep her activities hidden from her strict family, she made amateur appearances in the Trem da Alegria broadcast created by Lamartine Babo, Iara Sales, and Héber Bôscoli on Rádio Nacional. Encouraged by favorable listener response, she left home and committed herself to a singing career.

In 1948 she became the featured vocalist at Dancing Avenida, one of Rio’s leading gafieiras. Rádio Mayrink Veiga soon engaged her services. Her first recordings appeared in 1951 on Victor, pairing “Sou Feliz” by Augusto Mesquita and Ciro Monteiro with “Quando Alguém Vai Embora” by Ciro Monteiro and Dias Cruz. The following year she scored her initial hit with “Não Tenho Você,” written by the then-unknown Paulo Marques and Ari Monteiro. During this period she ranked among the leading attractions at both Rádio Nacional and Rádio Mayrink Veiga, where she hosted her own program, A Princesa Canta. President Getúlio Vargas, an admirer, affectionately referred to her as Sapoti.

She toured Portugal and Africa in 1963, performing for Portuguese troops. In 1979 she joined João da Baiana in Alex Viany’s documentary Maxixe, a Dança Perdida. One of her later triumphs was the joint presentation Canta Brasil with Cauby Peixoto, which RCA/BMG recorded and released as the live album Ângela e Cauby ao Vivo.