Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, known professionally as Carmen Miranda, was born on February 9, 1909, in Várzea da Ovelha e Aliviada, Kingdom of Portugal. She moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1910 and began her career as a samba singer, recording her debut single “Não vá Simbora” in 1929 with composer Josué de Barros. Her breakthrough came in 1930 with the song “P'ra Você Gostar de Mim” (also known as “Taí”), a collaboration with Joubert de Carvalho that sold a record 35,000 copies. In 1933, Miranda became the first contract singer in Brazilian radio history after signing with Rádio Mayrink Veiga, where she was nicknamed "A Pequena Notável". She starred in several Brazilian films, including Hello, Hello Brazil! (1935), Estudantes (1935), and Hello, Hello, Carnival! (1936). Miranda adopted her signature "Baiana" image and fruit hat in 1939 for the film Banana da Terra, in which she performed “O Que É Que A Baiana Tem?”. That same year, Broadway producer Lee Shubert hired Miranda and her backing band, Bando da Lua, to perform in the revue The Streets of Paris. She made her Hollywood debut in Down Argentine Way (1940) and went on to star in 14 Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953, including That Night in Rio (1941) and The Gang's All Here (1943), which featured her performance of “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat”. By 1945, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States. Following World War II, her film career declined, and she focused on nightclub and television appearances, as well as collaborative recordings with the Andrews Sisters such as “Cuanto La Gusta” (1947), which reached number 12 on the Billboard chart, and “The Wedding Samba” (1950). Miranda died on August 5, 1955, and was posthumously honored with the Carmen Miranda Museum in Rio de Janeiro.
