María Grever

María Grever, born María Joaquina de la Portilla Torres on 14 September 1885 in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, was the first female Mexican composer to achieve international acclaim. The daughter of a Spanish father, Francisco de la Portilla, and a Mexican mother, Julia Torres, she spent her earliest years in Mexico City before relocating to her father's hometown of Sevilla in 1891. Her musical gifts emerged exceptionally early: she composed her first piece, a Christmas carol, at age four. She later studied music in France under teachers that included Claude Debussy and Franz Lenhard. In 1900 she returned to Mexico and continued her studies at a solfège school run by her aunt. At 22, she married Leo A. Grever, an American oil company executive, and in 1916 became a U.S. citizen and settled permanently in New York City.

Grever's output was prolific, encompassing more than 1,000 songs, the majority of them boleros, with audiences across Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She was said to possess perfect pitch and composed most of her work in a single key. Her first song, "A Una Ola" (To a Wave), written when she was 18, sold three million copies. Her first major international hit was "Júrame" (Promise Me), a habanera-bolero performed by tenor José Mojica. Beginning in 1920, she worked as a film composer for Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. She joined ASCAP in 1935, and her principal musical collaborators included Stanley Adams and Irving Caesar.

Among her most celebrated compositions is "Cuando vuelva a tu lado," recorded in English as "What A Difference A Day Makes" by Dinah Washington in 1959. That recording won a Grammy Award the same year and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. Additional well-known songs include "Volveré," "Te quiero dijiste" — written for the 1944 Esther Williams film Bathing Beauty — "Por si no te vuelvo a ver," and "Tipitipitin," recorded as "Ti-Pi-Tin" by the Andrews Sisters. Her catalog also encompasses "Para Qué Recordar," "Ya No Me Quieres," "Tú, Tú y Tú" (recorded by Mexican tenor Juan Arvizu in 1928), "Que Dirías de Mí," "Eso Es Mentíra," "Mi Secreto," "Dame Tu Amor," "Una Rosa, Un Beso," "Despedida," "Así," "Chamaca Mía," "Todo Mi Ser," and "Alma Mía." Her Broadway work includes composing for the musical Viva O'Brien.

Grever's reach extended into film biography as well. In 1953, Argentine singer-actress Libertad Lamarque portrayed her in the biopic Cuando me vaya, directed by Tito Davison. Three years later, Lamarque released a best-selling tribute album dedicated to Grever's most popular songs. In 1964, operatic tenor Alfredo Kraus recorded "Júrame" on his album Siboney, and in 2018 soprano Ailyn Perez performed the same song live for WFMT in Chicago. On 11 February 2021, Google honored Grever with a Google Doodle.

Grever died on 15 December 1951 in New York following a prolonged illness. At her own request, her remains were returned to Mexico City.