
Maria Bethânia
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.
80 acting credits
Acting · 80

Champs-Elysées
1982

Le Grand Échiquier
1972

Criança Esperança
1986

Chico & Caetano
1986

Todo Mundo no Rio com Shakira
2026

O Nome Dela é Gal
2017

Os Afro-Sambas: The Brazil of Baden and Vinicius
2024

Ritas
2025

The Girl from Ipanema
1967

The Man Who Bought the World
1968

O Canto Livre de Nara Leão
2022

Caetano e Bethânia Ao Vivo
2025

Com a Palavra, Arnaldo Antunes
2018

Pitanga
2016

Phono 73: A Country and its Music
2005

Vinicius de Moraes
2005

The Man Who Bottled Clouds
2008

Nas Ondas de Dorival Caymmi
2024

Ana Carolina - Multishow Registro Ana Car9lina + Um: 9+1
2010

Ferreira Gullar: Arqueologia do Poeta
2019

The Dare
1965

Saravah
1969

Memórias do Grupo Opinião
2019

Bethânia Bem de Perto: A Propósito de um Show
1966

Luiz Melodia - Within the Heart of Brazil
2025

Chico: Brazilian Artist
2015

Os Doces Bárbaros
1977

Ana Carolina - Estampado
2003

Entangling Shadows
1998

Improvised and Purposeful: Cinema Novo
1967

Brasil
1981

Mulher 80
1979

Gal - from Tropicalism to the Present Day
2006

Outros (Doces) Bárbaros
2002

Maria Bethânia e Zeca Pagodinho: De Santo Amaro a Xerém
2018

Jards Macalé - Um Morcego na Porta Principal
2008

Especial Caetano Veloso 80 Anos
2022
Zeca Apresenta - o Quintal do Pagodinho ao Vivo - Vol. 3
2016

Abraçar e Agradecer
2016

Viva Volta
2005

26º Prêmio da Música Brasileira - Homenagem a Maria Bethânia
2015

Tropicália
2012

Maria: Ninguém Sabe Quem Sou Eu
2022

Moacyr Luz, O Embaixador Dessa Cidade
2024

Maria Bethânia: Música é Perfume
2005

Eu, Meu Pai e Os Cariocas
2017

Palavra (En)Cantada
2009

When Carnaval Comes
1972

Dê Lembranças a Todos
2018

Rio Sonata: Nana Caymmi
2011

Certas Palavras com Chico Buarque
1980

Fevereiros
2019

Panorama with Clarice Lispector
1977

Maria Bethânia: Pedrinha de Aruanda
2007

The Next Samba
2017

Multishow Registro: Pode Entrar
2009

A Última Ceia Segundo Ziraldo
1968

Chico e as Cidades
1999

MPB dos Tempos da Repressão
2004

Extrafísico - Jorge Vercillo
2019

Cauby: Começaria Tudo Outra Vez
2015

Maria Bethânia: Brasileirinho Ao Vivo
2004

A Imagem da Tolerância
2017

The Egg
2003

Vento Bravo
2007

Maria Bethânia e Omara Portuondo
2008

Duetos
2010

Maria Bethânia: Carta de Amor Ao Vivo
2013
Maria Bethânia: Noite Luzidia
2001

Brazil's Maria Bethânia
2001

Karingana - Licença para contar
2017

Toquinho Maravilhoso
2024

Alcione - Duas Faces
2011

Maria Bethânia: As Canções Que Você Fez Pra Mim - Ao Vivo
1994
Bahia - Stadt aller Heiligen
1971

Maria Bethânia - Caderno de Poesia
2013

Bethânia e as Palavras
2025
Ruin
2016

Maria Bethânia: Tempo Tempo Tempo Tempo
2005
Maria Bethânia: Dentro do Mar Tem Rio
2009