Girl from Ipanema is sued over the song she inspired
by Philip Delves Broughton (Filed: 13/08/2001)
From the London Telegraph Online

TALL, tanned, now 57, and still beautiful, The Girl from Ipanema is being sued by the families of the men who made her famous.
Sixties original: Heloisa Pinheiro, The Girl from Ipanema
Heloisa Pinheiro, the inspiration for the most famous bossa nova song, recently opened a boutique in Rio de Janeiro called The Girl from Ipanema.
The families of the song's writers, however, say she has no right to use the song for commercial purposes.
The shopowners along the fabled Ipanema beach in Rio have rallied behind Mrs Pinheiro, known to all as Helo, while those suing her have been portrayed as enemies of the laid-back beach life so vital to Brazilian culture.
It was 39 years ago that Mrs Pinheiro sashayed down to Ipanema beach, past a bar where two songwriters, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, were whiling away the day.
Enraptured by the 18-year-old, whom de Moraes called "a golden girl, a mixture of flower and siren, full of light and grace", the men wrote their song. Each day as she walked to the sea, they wrote, each man she passed went "Ahhhhhh".
The Girl from Ipanema was first performed in 1964 on an album by Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, duskily sung by Gilberto's then wife Astrud Gilberto.
It put bossa nova on the musical map and became an informal Brazilian national anthem, a paean to its sunkissed young women. Millions of tourists have since been drawn to the beaches of Rio by the song's sultry promise.
The bar where Jobim and de Moraes were sitting when they saw Mrs Pinheiro was long ago renamed The Girl from Ipanema and the song's sheet music is painted on its walls. In economic terms, the Ipanema district of Rio has benefited hugely from the song.
Mrs Pinheiro, however, has not been so fortunate. Had the song been written about her today, she might have become a millionaire with the right agent.
Instead, in 1966, she married an engineer, Fernando, and during the intervening years she has done only a little acting and modelling, including posing for Playboy in 1987. Five years ago, her husband lost his job, forcing her to become the bread winner.
Their main cost is paying for their 22-year-old son who suffered brain damage as an infant and requires special care.
"This store is the means I have to guarantee the sustenance of my family," Mrs Pinheiro told the New York Times. "I borrowed $50,000 (£37,000) to set it up and it's not profitable yet, so I can't afford to have it closed down."
Mrs Pinheiro suspects that the songwriters' heirs are jealous, because both Jobim and de Moraes were said to have been in love with her. Though married at the time, Jobim is said to have told Mrs Pinheiro in 1965 that he wanted to marry her. He ended up being best man at her wedding. Jobim's widow is among those suing Mrs Pinheiro.
Carlos Monjardim, president of the Ipanema Merchants' Association, organised a party for Mrs Pinheiro last week, proclaiming her "the eternal ambassador of Ipanema".
He said of the lawsuit: "This is an act of pettiness that shocks and offends the entire community of Ipanema. What Pele is to all of Brazil, Helo is for Ipanema."