Maria Bethânia

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

64

Gender

Female

Birthday

1946-06-18 (77 years old)

Place of Birth

Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, Brazil

Maria Bethânia

Biography

Maria Bethânia Viana Teles Veloso (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"). 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 of Brazilian music.

Bethânia is the sixth out 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.

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, Bethãnia 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". ...

Source: Article "Maria Bethânia" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known For

Chico: Brazilian Artist
8.1%

Chico: Brazilian Artist

Nov 26, 2015

Vinicius de Moraes
6.0%

Vinicius de Moraes

Nov 1, 2005

The Dare
7.7%

The Dare

Jul 9, 1965

Fevereiros
7.4%

Fevereiros

Jan 31, 2019

When Carnaval Comes
5.8%

When Carnaval Comes

Jul 13, 1972

Os Doces Bárbaros
7.7%

Os Doces Bárbaros

Sep 1, 1977

Pitanga
5.6%

Pitanga

Sep 23, 2016

Palavra (En)Cantada
6.4%

Palavra (En)Cantada

Mar 13, 2009

The Girl from Ipanema
6.2%

The Girl from Ipanema

May 26, 1967

Brasil
6.4%

Brasil

Dec 5, 1981

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Acting

2022
Maria: Ninguém Sabe Quem Sou Eu as Self
2022
Especial Caetano Veloso 80 Anos as Self
2019
Ferreira Gullar: Arqueologia do Poeta as Self
2019
Fevereiros as Self
2018
Maria Bethânia e Zeca Pagodinho: De Santo Amaro a Xerém as Intérprete
2018
Com a Palavra, Arnaldo Antunes as Self
2018
Dê Lembranças a Todos as Self
2017
A Imagem da Tolerância as Self
2017
The Next Samba as Herself
2017
O Nome Dela é Gal as Self
2017
Eu, Meu Pai e Os Cariocas as Self
2017
Karingana - Licença para contar as Self
2016
Abraçar e Agradecer as Herself
2016
Pitanga as Self
2016
Zeca Apresenta - o Quintal do Pagodinho ao Vivo - Vol. 3 as Participante
2016
Ruin
2015
Chico: Brazilian Artist as Self
2015
26º Prêmio da Música Brasileira - Homenagem a Maria Bethânia as cantora (Homenageada)
2015
Cauby: Começaria Tudo Outra Vez
2013
Maria Bethânia: Carta de Amor Ao Vivo as Intérprete
2013
Maria Bethânia - Caderno de Poesia
2011
Alcione - Duas Faces as Self - Guest
2011
Rio Sonata: Nana Caymmi
2010
Ana Carolina - Multishow Registro Ana Car9lina + Um: 9+1 as Self
2009
Maria Bethânia: Dentro do Mar Tem Rio
2009
Multishow Registro: Pode Entrar
2009
Palavra (En)Cantada as Self
2008
The Man Who Bottled Clouds as Self
2008
Maria Bethânia e Omara Portuondo
2008
Jards Macalé - Um Morcego na Porta Principal as Self
2007
Maria Bethânia: Pedrinha de Aruanda as Self
2007
Vento Bravo as Self
2006
Gal - from Tropicalism to the Present Day
2005
Maria Bethânia: Tempo Tempo Tempo Tempo
2005
Vinicius de Moraes as Self
2005
Viva Volta as Self
2005
Maria Bethânia: Música é Perfume as Self
2005
Phono 73: A Country and its Music as Self (archive footage)
2004
Maria Bethânia: Brasileirinho Ao Vivo
2004
MPB dos Tempos da Repressão as Self
2003
Ana Carolina - Estampado
2003
Outros (Doces) Bárbaros as Self
2003
The Egg as Narrator
2001
Brazil's Maria Bethânia as Self
2001
Maria Bethânia: Noite Luzidia
1999
Chico e as Cidades as Self
1998
Entangling Shadows as Self
1986
Criança Esperança as Self
1986
Chico & Caetano
1982
Champs-Elysées as Self
1981
Brasil as Self
1980
Certas Palavras com Chico Buarque as Self
1979
Mulher 80 as Self
1977
Os Doces Bárbaros as Self
1972
When Carnaval Comes as Rosa
1972
Le Grand Échiquier as Self
1971
Bahia - Stadt aller Heiligen as Herself
1969
Saravah as Self
1968
The Man Who Bought the World
1968
A Última Ceia Segundo Ziraldo
1967
The Girl from Ipanema
1967
Improvised and Purposeful: Cinema Novo as Self
1966
Bethânia Bem de Perto: A Propósito de um Show as Self
1965
The Dare as Herself

Sound

2022
Pantanal as Theme Song Performance
2016
A Gis as Music
2007
Paraíso Tropical as Theme Song Performance
1968
The Man Who Bought the World as Songs

Writing

2016
Abraçar e Agradecer as Writer
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