Carmen Miranda

She was the second daughter of José Maria Pinto da Cunha (17 February 1887 – 21 June 1938) and Maria Emília Miranda (10 March 1886, Rio de Janeiro – 9 November 1971).

The family's emigration to Brazil was already scheduled; however, upon finding herself pregnant, Carmen Miranda's mother preferred to wait for her daughter's birth.

Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955), known professionally as Carmen Miranda, was a Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress.

Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", she was actually born in Portugal and moved to Brazil with her family when still a baby.

Her image is strongly linked to her signature fruit hat outfit, which she wore in the 14 American films in which she acted.

In 1909, her father emigrated to Brazil and settled in Rio de Janeiro, where he opened a barber shop.

Her mother followed in 1910 with their daughters, Olinda (1907–1931) and Carmen, who was less than a year old.

Although Carmen never returned to Portugal, she retained her Portuguese nationality.

In Brazil, her parents had four more children: Amaro (1912–1988), Cecilia (1913–2011), Aurora (1915–2005) and Óscar (born 1916).

She was christened Carmen by her father because of his love for Bizet's Carmen.

This passion for opera influenced his children, and Miranda's love for singing and dancing, at an early age.

She was educated at the Convent of Saint Therese of Lisieux.

Her father did not approve of Miranda's plans to enter show business; her mother supported her, despite being beaten when her father discovered that his daughter had auditioned for a radio show (she had sung at parties and festivals in Rio).

Miranda's older sister, Olinda, developed tuberculosis and was sent to Portugal for treatment; the singer worked in a tie shop at age 14 to help pay her sister's medical bills.

She then worked in a boutique (where she learned to make hats) and opened a successful hat business.

Miranda was introduced to Josué de Barros, a composer and musician from Bahia, while she was working at her family's inn.

As a young woman, Miranda designed clothes and hats in a boutique before making her debut as a singer, recording with composer Josué de Barros in 1929.

With help from de Barros and Brunswick Records, she recorded her first single (the samba "Não vá Simbora") in 1929.

Miranda's 1930 recording of "Taí (Pra Você Gostar de Mim)", written by Joubert de Carvalho, catapulted her to stardom in Brazil as the foremost interpreter of samba.

During the 1930s, Miranda performed on Brazilian radio and appeared in five Brazilian chanchadas, films celebrating Brazilian music, dance and the country's carnival culture.

Hello, Hello Brazil! and Hello, Hello, Carnival! embodied the spirit of these early Miranda films.

Miranda's second single, "Prá Você Gostar de Mim" (also known as "Taí", and released in 1930), was a collaboration with Brazilian composer Joubert de Carvalho and sold a record 35,000 copies that year.

She signed a two-year contract with RCA Victor in 1930, giving them exclusive rights to her image.

In 1933 Miranda signed a two-year contract with Rádio Mayrink Veiga, the most popular Brazilian station of the 1930s, and was the first contract singer in Brazilian radio history; for a year, in 1937, she moved to Rádio Tupi.

She later signed a contract with Odeon Records, making her the highest-paid radio singer in Brazil at the time.

The 1939 musical Banana da Terra (directed by Ruy Costa) gave the world her "Baiana" image, inspired by Afro-Brazilians from the north-eastern state of Bahia.

In 1939, Broadway producer Lee Shubert offered Miranda an eight-week contract to perform in The Streets of Paris after seeing her at Cassino da Urca in Rio de Janeiro.

The following year she made her first Hollywood film, Down Argentine Way with Don Ameche and Betty Grable, and her exotic clothing and Lusophone accent became her trademark.

That year, she was voted the third-most-popular personality in the United States; she and her group, Bando da Lua, were invited to sing and dance for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Miranda made 14 Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953.

Although she was hailed as a talented performer, her popularity waned by the end of World War II.

Miranda came to resent the stereotypical "Brazilian Bombshell" image she had cultivated and attempted to free herself of it with limited success.

She focused on nightclub appearances and became a fixture on television variety shows.

Despite being stereotyped, Miranda's performances popularized Brazilian music and increased public awareness of Latin culture.

In 1941, she was the first Latin American star to be invited to leave her hand and footprints in the courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theatre and was the first South American honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 1943, Miranda starred in Busby Berkeley's The Gang's All Here, which featured musical numbers with the fruit hats that became her trademark.

By 1945, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States.

Miranda is considered the precursor of Brazil's 1960s Tropicalismo cultural movement.

A museum was built in Rio de Janeiro in her honor and she was the subject of the documentary Carmen Miranda: Bananas is My Business (1995).

Miranda was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha in Várzea da Ovelha e Aliviada, a village in the northern Portuguese municipality of Marco de Canaveses.