news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/1437011.stm
Saturday, 14 July, 2001, 20:55 GMT 21:55 UK Girl from Ipanema fights for title Helo Pinheiro Helo Pinheiro has enjoyed fame as a model and actress The Brazilian inspiration behind one of the most evocative songs of an er a could be stripped of her title as the official The Girl From Ipanema. The families of the song's authors have objected to Helo Pinheiro using t he name to promote her shop. The name The Girl from Ipanema only exists because I exist Helo Pinheiro Pinheiro has laid claim to the title since songwriters Tom Jobim and Vini cius de Moraes saw her walking up and down Ipanema beach in Rio de Janei ro, Brazil, as a teenager in 1962. Surprisingly, The Girl from Ipanema was a total flop in Brazil when it wa s first released. But it was big hit in the United States, winning a Grammy for the best so ng of the year in 1964. Legal threat Helo Pinheiro was "tall and tan and lovely" at the time - but now, as a 5 4-year-old, has opened a jewellery and clothing shop called Garota de Ip anema, or Girl from Ipanema, in So Paulo. Helo Pinheiro Pinheiro: "The muse who inspired the song" The families of the songwriters, who are both dead, are now suing Pinheir o for "unduly using the works and images of the deceased." The lawsuit says: "She doesn't have the legitimacy to use, at her pleasur e, the work and images of Tom Jobim and of Vinicius Moraes as she has be en doing." It cites a popular T-shirt featuring a picture of Pinheiro with the song' s lyrics written in the background. Compensation Helo Pinheiro told the BBC she was confused by the subpoena she had recei ved. The apartment building where I live in Rio is called The Girl From Ipanema, and throughout Brazil there are many ba rs and night-clubs that are using this name. Saxophonist Stan Getz Stan Getz: Helped make the song popular "No-one has ever complained. If I am the muse who inspired the song, I ha ve the right to use this title. "They are trying to kill me', she said, "but how are you going to tell th e story of the 'The Girl From Ipanema, if I am erased from the picture?" Helo feels that what caused this lawsuit to be brought after such a long time, are perhaps personal motives. Maybe his widow has only decided t o become jealous now," she stated. The songwriters revealed more than 30 years ago that Pinheiro - who was b orn Heloisa Eneida - was their inspiration. "She was a green-eyed girl, blond and dark, a mixture that is so beautifu l," Jobim once said. Totally unknown until Jobim and Moraes' revelation in 1965, Pinheiro beca me an overnight celebrity in Brazil. Friends Pinheiro's lawyers say they will not only fight the charges but also sue the two families for damages. She believes that if Jobim and Moraes were still alive, they would not be suing her. Pinheiro said she was friends with both Jobim, who died in 1994, and Mora es, who died in 1980. Jobim even wrote the text that accompanied nude photos of her in Brazilia n Playboy in 1987 under the title The Girl From Ipanema, Pinheiro said. Her career as a model, soap opera actress and businesswoman was boosted b y the song's popularity.
|