Beth Carvalho

Elizabeth "Beth" Santos Leal de Carvalho (May 5, 1946 – April 30, 2019) was a Brazilian samba singer, guitarist, cavaquinist and composer.

She started playing the guitar as a teenager, and got involved with the emerging Bossa Nova movement, winning a nationwide song contest on TV at the age of 19.

Following a 1967 album, "Muito Na Onda," with the project 'Conjunto 3D,' Carvalho did her first solo record, 1968's "Andança", and carried the song of the same name to victory in a larger festival, which brought her to prominence.

Carvalho is a very important artist in the history of samba, as she celebrated and brought the spotlight to the work of legendary composers such as Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho & Guilherme de Brito when they weren't receiving the attention they deserved.

With a career that spanned 40 years, she was a historical figure in Brazilian culture, and recognized as the female sambista with the most substantial opus in Brazil, without diminishing other stars as Clara Nunes and Daniela Mercury.

Beth Carvalho in Tupi TV, 1960s. National Archives of Brazil.
Beth Carvalho performing in Paris during the year of Brazil in France. 2005