Rosemary

In 1960, Rosemary entered a recording studio for the first time at age fifteen, laying down the bolero "Fala Coração" and the samba "Também Sou Mulher" with an orchestra under the direction of Guerra Peixe. Two years afterward she teamed with Wanderlea—who had followed Celly Campelo, the country’s initial major Brazilian rock & roll artist—to issue "Dança dos Brotos." Although she reached the market before her later rival, Rosemary’s comparatively restrained image kept her from being cast as the female lead alongside the central Jovem Guarda trio of Roberto Carlos, Erasmo Carlos, and Wanderlea. Before she found her own footing, she modeled her vocals and stage moves on those of Rita Pavone. In 1966 her rising profile brought an invitation to co-star with Wanderley Cardoso in the ultimately unrealized film Abraça-me Forte. That same year she appeared in Na Onda do Iê-iê-iê, the first feature directed by Renato Aragão. Regular spots on Jovem Guarda broadcasts, among them the Novos Nove Show on TV Excelsior, led Chacrinha—the flamboyant host widely viewed as tropicalia’s chief emblem—to crown her "the blonde goddess of iê-iê-iê" during a ceremony on his program. She also took part in the inaugural broadcast of the Jovem Guarda show itself, an early phase of her work centered on that movement and contemporaneous youth repertoire. By the 1970s she had moved into MPB and romantic material. Her first MPB session took place in 1966, at the height of Jovem Guarda, when she recorded "Uma Tarde no Circo" by Rildo Hora. During that decade she helped inaugurate the Carmen Miranda museum, portrayed the singer in stage musicals overseas, and performed for President Jimmy Carter at the White House. In the 1980s she released several singles penned expressly for her by Erasmo Carlos and Roberto Carlos. During the 1990s she adopted the pop-sertanejo style.