The wonderful ‘barefoot diva’ of Cape Verde has died aged 70 in her home town of Mindelo on São Vicente. The story of her international success in the last 20 years of her life is a heart-warming one. Her father died when she was seven and her mother, left with six children, was unable to cope and Cesaria was placed in an orphanage aged 10. As a teenager she started singing in the sailors’ bars of Mindelo and became a popular local performer. In the 1960s she recorded upbeat coladeiras for Radio Barlavento in Mindelo – released by Lusafrica as Radio Mindelo.

But international success didn’t come until she was invited to Lisbon by Cape Verdean singer Bana in 1985. She was heard by José da Silva of Lusafrica records who decided to record her and released La Diva au Pieds Nus (The Barefoot Diva) in 1988. But it was Mar Azul (Blue Sea), an acoustic album featuring melancholy creole mornas, that was the turning point. In Songlines’ 50 Great Moments in World Music feature we marked Cesaria’s big break as her performance 20 years ago at New Morning in Paris on December 14 1991. There had been great reviews of her album Mar Azul in Le Monde and Libération and the place was packed. There she stood with her bare feet, her microphone in one hand and a cigarette in the other with a glass of whisky on a table behind her. Then aged 50, her voice had deepened and got its world-weary chocolaty richness. It was with slow mornas that she made her mark – like ‘Sodade’, a signature song that she recorded the following year for one of her best albums, Miss Perfumado.

I will never forget seeing her for the first time at WOMEX in Berlin in 1994 – rarely have I felt so vividly that in front of me was a truly great artist that the world should know about. A barefoot grandmother-like chanteuse who sang nostalgic songs in a gorgeous smoky voice, accompanied by piano, guitar and cavaquinho, and lighting up cigarettes between songs. Her 1995 album Cesaria was her first Grammy nomination, with the song ‘Petit Pays’ which highlighted some of the characteristic musical styles of Cape Verde.  Her album Voz D’Amor won a Grammy in 2004 and over the years she explored various collaborations with Cuban and Brazilian musicians. One of her most beautiful duets was the song ‘Yamore’ with Malian singer Salif Keita on his 2002 album Moffou.

Cesaria  suffered a heart attack and underwent heart surgery after a Paris concert in 2010 and it was announced she would retire from performing in September 2011.

Apart from being an extraordinary singer in her own right, Cesaria Evora put Cape Verde on the map musically. Until she appeared, the world outside Lisbon was unaware of the islands’ music, whereas now there’s a new generation of very talented Cape Verdean singers and instrumentalists on the world stage.