Rest in Peace Cesaria Evora.

The international star Cesaria Evora died December 17th at Baptista de Sousa hospital in Mindelo in the island of Sao Vicente in her native homeland, the island of Cape Verde in Africa. She died of high blood pressure complications. She had retired in September of this year due to poor health. Her fame put Cape Verde and Morna (a music and dance genre from the island) in the spotlight. Cesaria Evora, also known as the “Barefoot Diva” and the “Queen of Morna” was born in on August 27th, 1941 in Mindelo.

“I started singing in the neighborhood where I lived, just with my friends…It was just to amuse ourselves,” she told Rhythm Music in an interview. She began performing in various bars in Mindelo, and began to sing Morna at age 16 after a romantic involvement with a guitarist. She was featured on national radio and began to be invited to sing in bars throughout the ten islands that make up the Cape Verde chain. According to Nonesuch Records, “With a voice conveying power, vulnerability and an emotional affinity for this style, Evora quickly found a niche for herself in Mindelo’s musical life and through committed performances gained a distinguished reputation as the ‘Queen of Morna.’”

“In Cape Verde I used to sing for tourists and for the ships when they would come there’” she said in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. “That’s why I always thought that maybe if I made it, people from different countries would love my music.”

Evora’s international success came in 1988 with the release of her first album La Diva Aux Pieds Nus recorded in France. In 1988, a Cape Verdian producer living in France, José Da Silva, offered her to travel to Paris to record an album. She was 47 at the time. In Paris, Cesaria’s performances of Cape Verdian styles such as Morna and Coladeira gained a large following among the immigrant community. “Our music is a lot of things,” Ms. Evora told the Associated Press in a 2000 interview. “Some say it’s like the blues, or jazz. Others say it’s like Brazilian or African music, but no one really knows. Not even the old ones.”

Her 1992 album Miss Perfumado sold over 300,000 copies worldwide.

In 1997, she won KORA All African Music Awards in three categories: Best Artist of West Africa, Best Album and Merit of the Jury. In 2004, her album Voz d’Amor was awarded a Grammy in the World music category. “My songs are about loss and longing, love, politics, immigration – and reality. We sing about our land; about the sun; the rain that never comes; about poverty and problems; how the people on Cape Verde live,” said Cesaria Evora.

Cesaria Evora survived a stroke in April of 2008. In 2010, Evora performed a series of concerts, the last of which was in Lisbon on 8 May. Two days later, after a heart attack, she was operated on at a hospital in Paris. On the morning of 11 May she was taken off artificial pulmonary ventilation, and on 16 May she was discharged from the intensive care unit and transported to a clinic for further treatment. In late September 2011, Evora’s agent announced she was ending her career due to poor health. She died Saturday.