MARTINHA aos 79 anos e como VIVE hoje — Esqueceram que a Música Era Dela

When "Eu Daria a Minha Vida" plays on the radio, almost everyone thinks of Roberto Carlos. The song was composed by Martinha. She recorded it first, in 1968. Roberto Carlos recorded it later. His version became more famous. The song has been recorded more than four thousand times by artists all over the world — Ornella Vanoni in Italy, Nicoletta in France, performers in Mexico, Colombia, and Spain. The name that appears in the credits as composer is hers. The name that Brazil remembers when the song plays is not hers. Martinha had a career that most Brazilian artists will never have. A season in a Broadway theater in New York. A contract with Columbia in Madrid. Producer of Julio Iglesias' first album for Brazil — she did the Portuguese versions. 23 LPs, three million records sold, award for best Latin performer in New York. Roberto Carlos called her Queijinho de Minas (Little Cheese from Minas). Today she is 79 years old. In 2019, she was diagnosed with Reinke's edema — an accumulation of fluid in the vocal cords. It makes singing difficult, but it hasn't stopped her from continuing. On Instagram, she leaves her phone number available for anyone who wants to book a show. She lives on a farm in Greater São Paulo. She hasn't released a new album in over twenty years. "I'm not going to let this end my life as a singer," she said about the diagnosis. In this video, we tell you who Martinha is — from Jovem Guarda to Broadway, what she has built, and what it means to have composed one of the most recorded songs in Brazilian history and still have to put her phone number on Instagram hoping someone will remember she exists. ⌰ Subscribe — for the stories of those who wrote what Brazil sings without knowing who it's by.