Google honours Barefoot Diva

A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements and notable historical figures.

The ‘Barefoot Diva’, as she was popularly known, was born on 27 August 1941 in Mindelo, São Vicente. She began singing as a child and became known for performing morna songs – traditional Cape Verdean folk compositions that tell stories of the country’s long history of isolation, slave trade and population loss due to emigration.

She started her music career in the 1960s on Portuguese cruise ships stopping in Mindelo, and on local radio stations in Cape Verde. Évora was not known by the rest of the world until 1985 when she staged her first show in Portugal. She then recorded her first album La Diva Aux Pieds Nus in 1988 in Paris. From then on her rise to superstardom was unstoppable.

She won the first Best Contemporary World Music Album Award at the 2004 Grammys for Voz d'Amor and is perhaps best known for the song 'Sodade', which is today regarded as a classic.

In 2001, she told a radio show about her onstage style of not wearing shoes after rumours emerged that she would perform barefoot to empathise with the poor. But she quickly put the rumours to bed: "People used to say that I did that in solidarity with the hungry people and all the poor people of the world, but that’s not true. In Cape Verde, lots of people are like me, they just don’t like to wear shoes."

Évora passed away on 17 December 2011. Google's tribute to the great singer confirms the indelible mark she made on the music industry in Africa and beyond.