Cesária Évora

Cesária Évora GCIH (; 27 August 194117 December 2011) was a Cape Verdean singer known for singing morna, a genre of music from Cape Verde, in her native Cape Verdean Creole. Her songs were often devoted to themes of love, homesickness, nostalgia, and the history of the Cape Verdean people. She was known for performing barefoot and for her habit of smoking and drinking on stage during intermissions. Évora's music received many accolades, including a Grammy Award in 2004, and it has influenced many Cape Verde diaspora musicians as well as American pop singer Madonna. Évora is also known as Cize, the Barefoot Diva, and the Queen of Morna.

Growing up in poverty, Évora began her singing career in local bars at age sixteen. She saw some success within Cape Verde over the following years, but she retired from singing when it did not provide her with enough money to care for her children. Évora returned to music in 1985, when she contributed to a women's music anthology album in Portugal. There, she met music producer José "Djô" da Silva, who signed Évora to his record label, Lusafrica. She released her debut album, La Diva Aux Pieds Nus, in 1988. Évora saw worldwide success after releasing her fourth and fifth albums: Miss Perfumado (1992) and Cesária (1995). She developed health problems in the late 2000s and died from respiratory failure and hypertension in 2011.

Biography Early life and music career Cesária Évora was born on 27 August 1941, in Mindelo, São Vicente (then a colony in Portuguese Cape Verde), as one of seven children. Her father Justino was a violinist; he died while she was still a child. Her mother Joana was a cook and a maid who was forced to raise her many children alone following her husband's death. The family's poverty, and that of the entire colony, meant that she received little formal education.

Évora took up singing as a child. When she was 16 years old, she began a romantic relationship with a guitarist who encouraged her to begin performing morna and coladeira, and so she began performing in local bars. She became the headliner for Mindelo's Café Royal before achieving wider success in Cape Verde by performing on Radio Mindelo. Furthermore, she suffered from alcoholism, depression, and malnourishment. For these reasons, Évora retired from music in the 1970s. She released several more albums, each two to three years apart, over the following years.

Évora's ninth album, Voz d'Amor (Voice of Love), won a Grammy Award in 2004. On 17 December 2011, Évora died in Mindelo, at the age of 70 from respiratory failure and hypertension. A Spanish newspaper reported that 36 hours before her death she was still receiving people—and smoking—in her home.

Awards and honors In 1997, Évora won the KORA All African Music Awards for "Best Artist of West Africa" and "Merit of the Jury", and she won a third with Cabo Verde for "Best Album". Évora received a total of six Grammy Award nominations, and she won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2004 for her album Voz dámor.

Évora was made an ambassador of the World Food Programme in 2004, and she was declared a cultural ambassador by the government of Cape Verde and granted a diplomatic passport. and was awarded the French Legion of Honour in 2009. though she sometimes sang songs in Spanish and collaborated with Spanish language musicians. Her music has been compared to that of Edith Piaf and Billie Holiday.

Legacy After achieving global popularity, Évora saw her role as sharing the story of the oft-forgotten Cape Verde to the world.

Évora is also an influence for music artists with no connection to Cape Verde: the American singer Madonna developed an interest in Portuguese and Cape Verdean music after meeting her, which influenced Madonna's studio album "Madame X" (2019) and the subsequent Madame X Tour. The Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso has cited her as an inspiration.

Évora's image has been featured on Cape Verdean postage stamps and on 2000 Escudos banknotes. Cesária Évora Airport in Mindelo was named after her in 2012, and the airport's entrance features a tall statue of her made by Domingos Luisa.

Discography Évora released eleven studio albums during her career, and a twelfth was released after her death. La Diva aux Pieds Nus (1988) Distino di Belita (1990) Mar Azul (1991) Miss Perfumado (1992) Cesaria Evora (1995) Cabo Verde (1997) Café Atlantico (1999) São Vicente di Longe (2001) Voz d'Amor (2003) Rogamar (2006) Nha Sentimento (2009) Mãe Carinhosa (posthumous album, 2013)