Berta Celeste Homem de Melo (March 21, 1902 – August 16, 1999) was a Brazilian pharmacist, writer and poet. Known for writing the Portuguese language lyrics for the

birthday song "Birthday Song" is a song by American rapper 2 Chainz, released July 24, 2012 as the second single from his debut studio album ''Based on a T.R.U. Story'' (2012). The song, which features fellow American rapper Kanye West, was produced by Sonny ...

Parabéns a Você , commonly known as or in Brazil, is the title of the Portuguese version of the popular English language song, ''Happy Birthday to you''. It is traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday in countries where Portuguese is an official lang ...

''.

Early life

Berta was born on March 21, 1902, in Pindamonhangaba, São Paulo, Brazil. She was the only child of farming couple José Joaquim and Maria da Conceição Varela Homem de Melo. She married her cousin, Lorival Homem de Melo, and had a daughter, Lorice. She graduated as a pharmacist and lent her name to a local pharmacy, but she did not work there. Instead she led the life of a housewife, listening to the radio and writing poems in her spare time. She would often enter radio competitions, creating rhymes for various products, winning cash and merchandise, including for floor wax, toothpaste, medicine, and tea.

Parabéns a Você

In 1942 the singer Almirante (Henrique Foréis Domingues), a Rádio Tupi presenter in Rio de Janeiro, launched a competition to select Portuguese lyrics to the

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

of '' Happy Birthday to you''. Berta entered this contest using the pseudonym of 'Léa Guimarães', and her rhyme was selected as the winner from 5000 entries. Berta has been quoted as saying that she was never happy with the way that her lyrics were sung. She would be irritated when Brazilians sing Parabéns 'pra' Você, and the plural form of the third line.

Later life

In 1956, Berta moved to the city of

Jacareí Jacareí () is a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The population is 235,416 (2020 est.) in an area of 464.27 km2. The city is known as "Capital of Beer" by the daily output of its factories, considered the biggest in Latin America. T ...

to become a teacher. She received a doctorate in Literature and wrote a collection of poems that were later published in a book called ''Devaneios''. One of her songs, entitled ''Arraiá'', was recorded by the singer Rolando Boldrin. Berta has said that she was moved on several occasions when the lyrics to ''Parabéns a Você'' were sung, especially during the Fourth Centenary of the city of São Paulo celebrations and during a visit by Pope John Paul II in 1980, to the city of Aparecida. On September 12, 1998, she was given the title of (honorary citizen of Jacareí) by the city of Jacareí. Berta died in Jacareí on August 16, 1999, at the age of 97, from pneumonia, and was buried in Pindamonhangaba.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Homem De Melo, Berta Celeste 1902 births 1999 deaths Brazilian poets 20th-century Brazilian poets People from Pindamonhangaba Writers from São Paulo Deaths from pneumonia in São Paulo (state) 20th-century Brazilian women writers People from Jacareí