"Maria Ninguém" ("Maria Nobody") is a song written by

Carlos Lyra Carlos Eduardo Lyra Barbosa (born 11 May 1933) is a Brazilian singer and composer of numerous bossa nova and Música popular brasileira classics. He and Antonio Carlos Jobim, were the first two music composers, together with lyricists Viniciu ...

and first released by Brazilian

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

singer

João Gilberto João Gilberto (born João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira – ; 10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019) was a Brazilian guitarist, singer and composer who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world, he was of ...

on his album ''

Chega de Saudade "Chega de Saudade" (), also known as "No More Blues", is a bossa nova jazz standard. It is often considered to be the first bossa nova song to be recorded. Like "The Girl from Ipanema", the music for "Chega de Saudade" was composed by Antônio Car ...

'' in April 1959. It has been covered by numerous artists, most notably by

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, who sang a Spanish-language version titled "Maria No Mas".

Cliff Richard version

Originally written and recorded in Portuguese, it was rewritten in Spanish for Cliff Richard and the Shadows' album ''

When in Spain ''When in Spain'' is a foreign language studio album by Cliff Richard and The Shadows released in 1963. It is Richard's sixth studio album and tenth album overall. The album of Spanish standards reached number 8 on the UK Album Charts.Dafydd Ree ...

''.

Release

"Maria No Mas" was released as a single in Belgium and the Netherlands in November 1963 with the B-side, "Tus Besos", written by Lionel Newman. In Germany, it was released in March 1964 with the B-side being a cover of "

Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

", written by

Jerry Leiber Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

and

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

. Both B-sides of these two releases were solely credited to Cliff Richard, with backing by the Norrie Paramor Orchestra. In Spain, an EP, titled ''Un Saludo de Cliff'', was released in 1963, with four tracks from ''When in Spain''.

Track listing

7": Columbia / CH 3035 (Belgium & Netherlands) # "Maria No Mas" – 2:07 # "Tus Besos" – 2:50 7": Columbia / C 22 667 (Germany) # "Maria No Mas" – 2:07 # "

" – 2:58 EP: Odeon / 7EPL 13.955 (Spain) # "Maria No Mas" – 2:07 # " Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" – 2:31 # " La Cancion de Orfeo" – 3:53 # "Me Lo Dijo Adela" – 2:04

Personnel

– vocals *

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

– lead guitar *

Bruce Welch Bruce Welch (born 2 November 1941 as Bruce Cripps) is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, singer and businessman best known as a founding member of the Shadows. Biography Welch's parents (Stan Cripps and Grace Welch) moved him to 15 B ...

– rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Brian Locking – bass guitar *

Brian Bennett Brian Laurence Bennett, (born 9 February 1940) is an English drummer, pianist, composer and producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group the Shadows. He is the father of musician and Shadows band me ...

– drums

Charts

Other versions

* In 1959,

released his own version on his version on his debut album ''Bossa Nova''. * In 1964, French singer

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

covered the song on her album '' B.B.''.

References

{{authority control 1959 songs Portuguese songs Bossa nova songs