The Girl From Ipanema (1964) by Stan Getz
“Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking”
Inspiration : Helô Pinheiro
Her full name is actually Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (say that five times fast), and had she not looked so good walking down the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, the world would have been deprived of one of the greatest elevator songs of all time.
Helô Pinheiro. Photo by Paulo Fridman/Corbis via Getty Images
Jokes aside, The Girl from Ipanema was so popular that it won a Grammy Award for Record of the year in 1965. Crazy! The hit song not only launched Stan Getz into the limelight but Pinheiro as well. Soon after the song’s release, Pinheiro began her career as a model and successful businesswoman. She became a Brazilian Playmate in the ’80s and then again in 2003.