Born inTrajano de Moraes, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Carmen Costa moved to the state capital at age 15, where she worked as a maid at the house of singerFrancisco Alves. She started her musical career encouraged by Alves, inviting her to sing at parties and to participate in radio contests.
Carmen won the amateur singing radio contest presented byAry Barroso. She became a professional singer, presenting herself in a duo with composer Henricão.
Her first hit was Está Chegando a Hora, a version of Mexican songCielito Lindo, in the 1940s. In 1945, Costa married the American national Hans Van Koehler and moved with him to the United States. She spent a season in Los Angeles and, in 1962 sang at the Bossa Nova atCarnegie Hall concert, withAntonio Carlos Jobim,Stan Getz andJoão Gilberto, among others.[2]
In 1950 she came back to Brazil, where she met composer Mirabeau Pinheiro, with whom she lived for five years and had her only daughter, Silésia. They worked together on songs likeCachaça não é água (being accused of plagiarism) andObsessão.
The singer also participated in several films, such as "Pra Lá de Boa" (1949), "Carnaval em Marte" (1955), "Depois eu conto" (1956) and "Vou Te Contá" (1958).
In 2003, the City Council of Rio de Janeiro had approved an initiative project of the Museum of the Republic and she was proclaimed Brazilian cultural heritage. For the occasion, she composed the song "Tombamento", which he sang for the Minister of Culture,Gilberto Gil .[3]
She died at Lourenço Jorge Hospital, in Rio de Janeiro, at age 86, after a few days in hospital. She hadchronic kidney disease andcardiac arrest at 6:00 am on April 25, 2007.
