- Title: BRAZIL: The "Girl from Ipanema," Helo Pinheiro launches her autobiography
- Date: 9th November 2012
- Summary: OLD NEWSPAPER PHOTO OF BRAZILIAN SONGWRITER VINICIUS DE MORAES WITH HELO PINHEIRO, THE WOMAN WHO INSPIRED THE SONG
- Embargoed: 24th November 2012 12:00
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- Location: Brazil
- City:
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA50S69NC3VTCXJ6KKSUPFZP81E
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- Story Text: Helo Pinheiro was tall, tan and young and only 18 years old when she drew sighs from late Brazilian songwriters Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes as she walked by a bar in Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema beach.
Fifty years on, "The Girl from Ipanema" -- who served as an inspiration for the world's most famous bossa nova song -- is launching an autobiography to reveal secrets about her relationship with the men who made her famous.
Pinheiro, now 68, launched her new book at a shop in Ipanema on Thursday (November 08) to mark the anniversary of the world's second most recorded song.
In the book "The Eternal Girl from Ipanema", Pinheiro unveils details of her first meeting with Jobim and Moraes.
She also recounts the difficulties of dealing with fame and the changes that took place in Rio de Janeiro since the 1960s.
The bar where Jobim and de Moraes used to write songs was long ago renamed "Girl from Ipanema" and the song's lyrics are painted on its walls.
Pinheiro said she felt she had to share her past with people.
"The song is a milestone of that time, a beautiful time of "bossa nova", a time that when we were young and didn't care about anything. So it was a beautiful period and I feel connected with it because people still look for me to tell them about it and each time I do it, I travel back in time," she said.
The "Garota de Ipanema", as it is known in Portuguese, became a worldwide hit with the voices of Brazilians Astrud Gilberto, Joao Gilberto and U.S. saxophonist Stan Getz.
In fact, Bossa nova, a musical genre that mixes samba and jazz, became famous around the globe thanks to this memorable song.
Pinheiro said readers would finally find out the truth behind the rumours about her affair with the two songwriters.
"You can expect (to read about) my life, especially the story about me having an affair with Vinicius and Tom (Antonio Carlos Jobim). If you read the book you will know if it happened or not. People always say 'you had an affair with Tom', 'you had an affair with Vinicius, it was impossible not to, they had a platonic love for you'. This doesn't exist. So the book will tell everything about that and also about the sad moments of my life. Because people think that just because you are a celebrity, that everything is great and glamorous and that our life doesn't have sad moments," she said.
The celebrity status she earned has not made life easy for her. Pinheiro said her family has gone through some difficult financial times, despite her jobs as a TV hostess in several networks. Nowadays she runs a morning show for elderly women at TV Bandeirantes.
Pinheiro said she felt she had a duty of sharing her past with people.
"The song is a milestone of that time, a beautiful time of "bossa nova", a time that when we were young and didn't care about anything. So it was a beautiful period and I feel connected with it because people still look for me to tell them about it and each time I do it, I travel back in time," she said.
Pinheiro has won fans all around the world. One of them is Sashi Raul, a British doctor, who was also attending the book launch.
"My husband Aubrey and I, we are both doctors and we have followed the "Girl from Ipanema" for a long time and it is my favourite song, our favourite song," she said.
After The Beatles' hit "Yesterday", "The Girl from Ipanema" is the world's second most played song according to several websites. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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