1972

Her father was an amateur saxophonist and clarinetist in the countryside of São Paulo. He died when she was 8 years-old, and Dalva was taken to an orphanage before reuniting with her mother in the city of São Paulo, where she worked as a nanny, cleaning lady and cook at a hotel. She got a cleaning job in a dance school, where she would sing and improvise songs on the piano after the classes. One of the teachers heard her, once, and he led her into a music group. The group split and she went for a job on a radio station in Belo Horizonte (capital of Minas Gerais). Dalva soon moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she got a job on the radio. In the 1930s, she lined up Trio de Ouro, with Nilo Chagas and Herivelto Martins, whom she eventually married. The group enjoyed hits like "Praça Onze" (Herivelto/ Grande Otelo) and "Ave Maria no Morro" (Herivelto). Dalva worked on the main radio stations in the country. By the end of 1949, she divorced Herivelto, and in 1950, she released three big hits: "Errei Sim" (Ataulfo Alves), "Que Será" (Marino Pinto/ Mário Rossi) and "Tudo Acabado" (J. Piedade/ Oswaldo de Oliveira Martins). she also enjoyed success with songs like "Segredo" (Herivelto/ Marino Pinto), "Olhos Verdes" (Vicente Paiva), "Ave Maria" (V. Paiva/ J. Redondo), "A Bahia Te Espera" (Herivelto/ Chianca de Garcia) and others. In 1951, she was dubbed Queen of the Radio and toured Argentina and Europe. Dalva lived in Buenos Aires, for a while, returning to Brazil in the 60s, and remained active, recording marchas-rancho such as "Rancho da Praça Onze" (João Roberto Kelly/ Chico Anysio), "Máscara Negra" (Zé Keti/ Pereira Matos) and "Bandeira Branca" (M. Nunes/ L. Alves), her eternal hit. She performed in nightclubs and on TV shows until the end of her life. In 1997, EMI released a box set with her main recordings, named "A Rainha da Voz".