María Grever facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
María Grever
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | María Joaquina de la Portilla Torres |
| Born | September 14, 1885 León, Guanajuato, Mexico |
| Died | December 15, 1951 (aged 66) New York City, New York |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
| Labels | Hudson |
María Grever (September 14, 1885 – December 15, 1951) was the first female Mexican composer to become world-famous. She is best known for the song "What A Difference A Day Makes" (originally "Cuando Vuelva a tu Lado"), which was made popular by Dinah Washington and has been sung by many artists.
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Early life
María Joaquina de la Portilla Torres was born to a Spanish father (Francisco de la Portilla) and Mexican mother (Julia Torres) in León, Guanajuato. For the first six years of her life, she lived in Mexico City. In 1891, at age 6, she moved to the city in which her father was born, Sevilla. She studied music in France under Claude Debussy and Franz Lenhard. In 1900, she moved back to Mexico and continued her musical studies at her aunt's solfège school. In 1907, the then 22-year-old de la Portilla married Leo A. Grever, an American oil company executive. In 1916, she became a U.S. citizen and moved to New York City, where she lived for the rest of her life.
Career
Grever wrote more than 1000 songs — the majority of them boleros — and her popularity reached audiences in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She was said to have possessed perfect pitch and wrote most of her songs in one key. She composed her first piece of music, a Christmas carol, when she was four years old. She wrote her first song, "A Una Ola" (To a Wave), when she was 18 years old, and it sold three million copies.
In 1920, she began to work as a film composer (someone who writes the music for movies) for Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox studios. Joining ASCAP in 1935, she worked closely with Stanley Adams and Irving Caesar.
Grever's first international hit was "Júrame" (Promise, Me), a habanera-bolero sung beautifully by tenor José Mojica. Other hits continued to follow, such as "Volveré" (I Will Return); "Te Quiero Dijiste" (I Love You, You Said), written for the 1944 Esther Williams film Bathing Beauty; as well as "Cuando Vuelva a Tu Lado" (When I Return To Your Side); and "Por Si No Te Vuelvo a Ver" (In Case I Don't See You Again). Other songs of hers include "Tipitipitin" (recorded as "Ti-pi-tin" by the Andrews Sisters), "Para Que Recordar," "Ya No Me Quieres," "Tu, Tu y Tu," "Que Dirias de Mi," "Eso Es Mentíra," "Mi Secreto," "Dame Tu Amor," "Una Rosa, Un Beso," "Despedida," "Asi," Ch"amaca Mía," "Todo Mi Ser," and "Alma Mia."
Death
Grever died in 1951 in New York after a prolonged illness. At her request, her remains were moved to Mexico City.
Posthumous tributes and success
Her songs have been posthumously covered internationally by a variety of artists:
- In 1953, Argentine singer-actress and Latin American star Libertad Lamarque portrayed Grever in Cuando me vaya (When I Leave), a movie directed by Tito Davison. Three years later, Lamarque released a best-selling tribute to Grever's most popular songs titled Libertad Lamarque Canta Canciones de Maria Grever.
- In 1959, Dinah Washington recorded "Cuando Vuelva a tu Lado" under the title "What A Difference a Day Makes" with English lyrics. The recording won a Grammy Award in 1959, and in 1998 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
- In 1964, operatic tenor Alfredo Kraus recorded "Júrame" on his album Siboney.
- In 2018, operatic soprano, Ailyn Perez performed "Júrame" live for WFMT in Chicago.
- On February 11, 2021, Google celebrated her with a Google Doodle.
María Grever quotes
- “I had to leave my country, and now in New York, I am interested in Jazz and Modern Rhythms, but above all, in Mexican Music, which I long to present to the American people. I am afraid they don't know much about it."
- "Hold me in your arms, and count the beats of our heart."
- "Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I found a soul like mine."
- "I had such a strong faith in the song, but the publishers thought I was crazy. I have been 20 years before an audience, and as a sensitive artist, I feel the vibrations of the public. I knew this song would be a success. So I published it myself." (Grever said this about the song "Ti-pi-tin.")
- "What a difference a day makes."
Interesting facts about María Grever
- Grever studied piano, violin, and voice (singing).
- In the late 1930s, she thought she may go blind because of an eye disease.
- There are newspaper clippings from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle which say, “Maria Grever is the busiest woman in all New York.”
- Maria Grever created her own publishing company, Portilla Music Publishing, because her publishers did not want to publish a song she wrote. The song, "Ti-pi-tin," became one of her more famous songs.
- In 1948, María suffered a stroke which left her paralyzed on her left side.
- Her son, Charles Grever, created Grever Music Publishing which became Grever International and housed a huge Mexican music catalog.
- Stuart Livingston, her great-grandson, works in the music industry.
See also
In Spanish: María Grever para niños
