Nina Miranda born 8 November 1934

Nina Miranda (née, Nelly María Hunter; November 8, 1925 - January 1, 2012) was an Uruguayan tango singer and composer who settled in Argentina in the early 1950s. She is known for the songs, "Maula", "Garufa", "Mamá, yo quiero un novio", "La tigra", and the popular "Fumando espero".

Born in Aguada, Montevideo, Miranda moved several times as a child. She spent her teen years in the Cerrito de la Victoria neighborhood of Montevideo at 3463 Bruno Méndez Street. At the age of eight,she entered and won a singing contest after a schoolmate's father heard her sing.

In 1939, Libertad Lamarque was the most popular of the female singers, with their tangos and movies. In Montevideo, (Uruguay´s capital) was announced the premiere of "Puerta Cerrada" (Closed Door), perhaps the biggest and best drama filmed in Lamarque's career. In the film, the protagonist's name was Nina Miranda, a tango singer who suffers from an impossible love. That afternoon, Nelly Mary Hunter and her mother went to the movies. When leaving, the 14-year-old girl said "when I'm an artist I will adopt the name that Libertad used in the film".

Three years passed when the young woman with singer attitudes won a contest in 1942 on CX 36 Radio Centenario, she received a three-month contract to join a ladies' orchestra, and the name NINA MIRANDA appeared. The women's orchestra, “Las Golondrinas”, was led by Teresita Añón, and featured tangos, milongas and waltzes in its songbook. They toured the south of Brazil, up to Porto Alegre. A subsequent tour took the orchestra to a nightclub in São Paulo named Okey. Back in Montevideo, they performed at the Palacio Salvo's Café Palace.

Miranda performed with Francisco Reinares, Emilio Pellejero, Roberto Luratti before making her first recording, which was with Juan Cao. Thereafter, she sang as a duo with Alberto Bianchi. By 1948, she appeared at the Hotel Rambla with the Emilio Pellejero Orchestra. In 1952, she recorded the song Maula which became a hit, and was aired daily on the radio stations.

 

                          Here’s “ Garufa” from above album

 

 In August 1955, she arrived in Buenos Aires to expand her artistic opportunities, aided by the journalist Augusto Bonardo, director of Montevideo's Radio El Espectador. At Radio Centenario, she recorded with the Donato Racciati orchestra for Sondor and with Graciano Gómez for Odeon Records. Initially, she recorded fourteen songs. On the radio, she performed twice a week with the Lucio Demare Orchestra.

After Juan Perón left office and the borders with Uruguay were reopened, she flew back and forth between Buenos Aires and Montevideo to perform on Radio El Espectador with a sextet which was led by Oldimar Cáceres. Her split with Graciano Gómez occurred after touring northern Argentina. Another tour followed, this time with the orchestra led by Héctor Norton. Thereafter, she toured with her own ensemble which was led by Fernando Córdoba.

In the middle of her success, in late 1957, she got married and her husband forbade her to continue her singing career. From 1958 to 2004, Miranda was again Nina Nelly Hunter.

After his death in 2004, she returned to tango, touring France, England, China and Brazil. She died in Buenos Aires in 2012. (Info edited from Wikipedia and various sources)