Xuxa

This article is about the Brazilian celebrity Xuxa. For her show of that title, see Xuxa (TV series). For the town in Transcaucasia, see Shusha. For other uses, see Xuxa (disambiguation).

Xuxa Meneghel
Xuxa in 2011
Born	Maria da Graça Meneghel (1963-03-27) 27 March 1963 Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Nationality	Brazil
Occupation	TV host, actress, singer, businesswoman
Children	Sasha Szafir Meneghel
Website
www.xuxa.com

Xuxa (Portuguese: [ˈʃuʃɐ]), Maria da Graça "Xuxa" Meneghel (pronounced: [mɐˈɾi.ɐ dɐ ˈgɾasɐ ˈʃuʃɐ meneˈgɛw]), born 27 March 1963 in Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) is a Brazilian television actress, singer and children's television show host. Her various shows have been broadcast in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.

Biography

Xuxa in 2006

Xuxa was born Maria da Graça Meneghel and "Xuxa" was originally a nickname given by her brother, which she legally added to her name in 1988. Her family moved to Rio de Janeiro when she was 7. She is a dual Italian and Brazilian citizen as her paternal grandparents hailed from Imer (province of Trento) in Northern Italy.

Xuxa was discovered by the publishing company Bloch Editores and she appeared on the cover of one of their magazines, Carinho, at the age of 16, starting a career in modeling, however, she had a smooth crossover to the children's entertainment business, which she does to this day. At 17, she began to date the Brazilian football legend Pelé, who was seen as being influential in launching her career. They had a personal relationship from 1981 to 1986. She dated world champion Formula One driver Ayrton Senna from 1988 until 1990.

From 1983 to 1986, the hostess commanded the "Children's Club" on TV Manchete extinct at the request of director Maurice Sherman. During the week he worked in New York and on weekends recorded the children's program. From 1986 to 1992, now on TV Globo, commanded a daily schedule with your name: "Xou da Xuxa." The attraction was one of the great successes of the Issuer, reference generations until today. There were more than 2,000 programs, nearly 130 gold albums, 52 platinum and 10 diamond. In this period, Xuxa has sold 18 million copies.

After the success of record sales in Brazil, she released her first album in Spanish, Xuxa, winning the Latin American market. In 1991, it was this year that Xuxa made her TV debut with the Argentina El Show de Xuxa, displayed on Telefé, the country's largest. The program won a grid of 17 Latin American countries and even the Hispanic market in the United States.

In 1991, at the height of its success, the magazine Forbes ranked among the 40 celebrities who most profited from that year, with U.S. $19 million, Xuxa appeared in the placement (#37), ahead of actor Mel Gibson (#38) and rapper Vanilla Ice (#40)

From America to Europe: in 1992, she launched the Xuxa Park in Spain, Tele 5. During this period, she lived in Brazil 15 days, fifteen days in Argentina and taping once a month in Spain to give an account of five concurrent programs.

In May 1993, the production company MTM Xuxa launched the program in English, on 121 channels in the United States. However, health problems forced him to slow down the work for a few months.

On 28 July 1998 was born Sasha, her only daughter. On the day of birth the main news program in the country (National Journal) Featured gave to childbirth with a matter of 10 minutes duration.

On 7 July 2007, Xuxa presented at the Brazilian leg of Live Earth in Rio de Janeiro.

Currently Xuxa presents the program TV Xuxa aimed at young people and their families. The show is broadcast on Saturday afternoons in "TV Globo". The singer, who gained fame with her songs for children, has not abandoned her child audience. She presents the program Mundo da Xuxa (World of Xuxa) – dedicated to children living outside Brazil. Mundo da Xuxa is broadcast in more than 115 countries by Globo TV International.

Xuxa's musical career also remains active. Currently she is an artist for Sony Music.

Social Actions

Xuxa with then Brazilian president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasília, June 2007.

In 1987, Xuxa got involved in a children's campaign against polio. More than 90% of Brazil's infant population was vaccinated. Two years into the campaign, the disease was eliminated and Xuxa received a medal of honor from the then president of Brazil, José Sarney.

Xuxa has also participated in campaigns against smoking; was a spokesperson for the campaign against breast cancer; and also was the organizer of a public parade of protest in Rio, asking for peace in the city.

The growing need to care for young children led her to set up the Xuxa Meneghel Foundation on 12 October 1989.

Apart from entertaining, Xuxa has always carried a torch for the care of young children and she met with president Luís Inácio Lula da Silva in June 2007 to launch in Brasilia a nationwide campaign called “Não Bata, Eduque!” (Don’t smack, Educate!), which campaigned against the physical punishment and humiliation of children.

Her concern for nature knows no bound and after the Al Gore study, Xuxa was chosen to represent Brazil on the Live Earth show and become the cause's spokeswoman in Brazil. The show took place in 7 countries simultaneously on 7 July 2007, and it was a wakeup call for the effects of climate change here on Earth.

In March 2008 Xuxa then launched the campaign “Uso Responsável da Internet” (Responsible Internet Use) at the Providencia ghetto in Rio de Janeiro. The initiative, in partnership with the Xuxa Meneghel Foundation, involved handing out pamphlets showing children and adults how to use the internet for good.

In the same year, she received a medal of honor at ECO 2008, held in Brasilia, for the social and environmental work carried out by the Xuxa Meneghel Foundation. She also took on the cause to fight against child prostitution.

That November, Xuxa received a prize from Prince Albert of Monaco for her work at the Xuxa Meneghel Foundation. This prize, which was awarded at the Monaco Benefit Associations Night, is the highest honor awarded to personalities for their work on social issues.

In August 2010, Xuxa was invited by the president of SESI, Jair Meneguelli, to be godmother to a nationwide campaign combating child prostitution, called "Carinho de Verdade".

Movies

Her first starring role was in Amor Estranho Amor (English title: Love Strange Love), a controversial 1982 Brazilian film. Produced by Anibal Massaini Neto by Cinearte.

Xuxa has so far released 17 childrens movies, five of which she made together with the Brazilian comedy group “Os Trapalhões”: “O Trapalhão na Arca de Noé” (1983), “Os Trapalhões e o Mágico de Oroz” (1984), “Os Trapalhões no Reino da Fantasia” (1985), “A Princesa Xuxa e os Trapalhões” (1989) and “Xuxa e os Trapalhões em O Mistério de Robin Hood” (1990).

Xuxa starred in her first film without the “Trapalhões” in 1988, “Super Xuxa contra o Baixo Astral”, and brought more than 2.8 million people into the movie theaters across Brazil.

She set a new record in 1990 with the film “Lua de Cristal” which brought in an audience of nearly 5 million.

Xuxa launched one film every year between 1999 and 2007: “Xuxa Requebra” (1999), “Xuxa Popstar” (2000), “Xuxa e os Duendes” (2001), “Xuxa e os Duendes 2 – No Caminho das Fadas” (2002), “Xuxa em Abracadabra” (2003), “Xuxa e o Tesouro da Cidade Perdida” (2004), “Xuxinha e Guto contra os Monstros do Espaço” (2005), “Xuxa Gêmeas” (2006) and “Xuxa em Sonho de Menina” (2007). Her success was such that she took first place for the highest accumulated billing for a Brazilian artist during that period.

In 2009, Xuxa launched her film “Xuxa em O Mistério de Feiurinha”, which tells the story of what happens in fairy tales after the “and they all lived happily ever after” ending. The film is an adaptation of Pedro Bandeira’s book “O Fantástico Mistério de Feiurinha” that has sold over 2 million copies. The movie’s cast included such names as: Sasha, Luciano Szafir and Huck, Angélica, Hebe and many more. It was seen by over 1.3 million cinema goers and was also shown in Angola and the USA.

Filmography

Year	Film	Audience
1982	Amor Estranho Amor	100.000
1983	Black Beetle	500.000
1983	Fun on Noah's Ark	2.850.000
1983	Os Trapalhões e o Mágico de Oróz	2.465.898
1984	Os Trapalhões e a Arca de Noé	2.465.898
1985	Os Trapalhões no Reino da Fantasia	1.751.709
1988	Super Xuxa Contra Baixo Astral	2.816.000
1989	A Princesa Xuxa e os Trapalhões	4.310.085
1990	Lua de Cristal	5.180.000
1990	O Mistério de Robin Hood	2.097.000
1991	Gaúcho Negro	690.000
1999	Xuxa Requebra	2.100.000
2000	Xuxa Popstar	2.400.000
2001	Xuxa e os Duendes	2.657.091
2002	''Xuxa e os Duendes'' 2	2.310.852
2003	Xuxa Abracadabra	2.217.368
2004	Xuxa e o Tesouro da Cidade Perdida	1.342.806
2005	Xuxinha e Guto: Contra os Monstros do Espaço	596.218
2006	Xuxa Twins	1.100.000
2007	Xuxa em Sonho de Menina	309.174
2009	Xuxa em O Mistério de Feiurinha	1.300.000
2012	As Brasileiras	television program

Xuxa on TV

Xuxa in 2005

At the age of 20, Xuxa was invited by the director Maurício Shermann to host a show called “Clube da Criança” (the Children's Club) on the now extinct TV Manchete channel. In those days she modeled during the week in New York and recorded the TV show over the weekends. The agency then gave her an ultimatum, making her chose between her career in modeling and working on TV. She's chosen the children's show.

Xuxa's charisma and beauty, as well as her easy-going way of presenting the kids’ show, drew attention and, in 1986, she was invited by the director Mario Lucio Vaz to have her first daily show with her own name: “Xou da Xuxa” (the Xuxa Show), broadcast by TV Globo.

That show left its mark on a whole generation. Xuxa would arrive in a pink spaceship and every kid would want to fly off with her. Children all over Brazil would rush to have breakfast to the sound of the song “Quem Quer Pão?” (Who Wants a Bread Roll?). Another symbol of the times was the "Xuxa kiss", where the presenter would leave her mark in lipstick. The Xuxa Show was a happy break. Apart from enjoying herself, the presenter always put across positive messages to the public with phrases like: “Wanting is believing and getting!”, “Chase after your dream!”, “Drugs are bad!” and many more.

Her success with the public brought Xuxa a second show at TV Globo in 1989. “Bobeou Dançou” was broadcast only on Sundays and, with that, she ran two programs at the same time: a Monday-through-Saturday show and the other on Sundays.

Another show that ran simultaneously with “Xou da Xuxa” was called “Paradão dos Baixinhos” (The Little Ones Charts), which started off as a set piece and gained its own life in 1991, and broadcast on Saturday mornings.

The “Xou da Xuxa” was wound up in 1992, making room for the Sunday show “Xuxa” in 1993, which had musical attractions, games and all the charm of Xuxa and her backup: the “Paquitas”.

The following year saw the arrival of “Xuxa Park”. The program ran from 1994 till 2001. The scene “Xuxa Hits” that was run in the last series received greater air time and ended up lasting half the length of each show.

“Planeta Xuxa” (Planet Xuxa), inspired by “Xuxa Hits”, was launched in April 1997, and became an immediate hit with those who had grown up following Xuxa’s career. Initially “Planeta Xuxa” was broadcast on Saturday afternoons and “Xuxa Park” held all the morning air time. “Planeta Xuxa” was only switched to Sundays in 1998, and it stayed on the air until 2002.

Little children were always the apple of Xuxa’s eye and she developed “XSPB” (Xuxa Just for Little Ones) – a video for little kids. With the success of these videos, Xuxa went back to making a daily morning program in October 2002 with the show “Xuxa no Mundo da Imaginação” (Xuxa in the World of Make Believe). It was targeted at kids from zero to ten-year-olds and aimed to excite the imagination, help kids have fun and learn.

The children’s show changed name and age group in 2005. “TV Xuxa”, which was still a daily morning show, included new scenes and games to amuse kids of all ages. In 2008, after running a summer program called “Conexão Xuxa” (the Xuxa Connection) that featured competitions between the famous guests and took place in several cities around Brazil, Xuxa took over Saturday mornings with a remodeled “TV Xuxa”. With this modern and interactive weekly show, Xuxa managed to unite grandparents, parents and children, talking to the three generations that had always followed her work. Now, broadcasted on Saturday afternoons, TV Xuxa presents live music performances, interviews, and much more.

From Brazil to the World

As early as in the 1980’s, Xuxa already had international recognition for his work on TV.

In 1987, the French newspaper Libération included Xuxa on the list of the most remarkable women in the world.

A total success in Brazil-wide sales, Xuxa released her first album in Spanish in 1990, “Xuxa”, and conquered the Latin-American market.

In 1990, Xuxa is invited by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences of the United States to deliver the Emmy Award in the category of best children's program and present one of his songs, the award ceremony.

In 1991, Xuxa first appeared on Argentinean TV with the show “El Show de Xuxa”, broadcast by the country's biggest channel, Telefe. The program was successfully franchised to 17 Latin-American countries as well as the Latino market in the USA.

Also in 1991, at age 28, Xuxa appeared in placing # 37 of Forbes Magazine, among the 40 richest celebrities that year, ahead of actor Mel Gibson # 38 and rapper Vanilla Ice # 40.

From America over to Europe: 1992 saw Xuxa launch the sow “Xuxa Park” on Spain’s Tele 5 channel. She was then living 15 days in Brazil and 15 in Argentina and went to Spain once a month to record – she was handling 4 shows simultaneously. Also in 1992, People Magazine chose Xuxa as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.

In May 1993, MTM Enterprises broadcast the show “Xuxa” in English and it was shown on 121 channels in the USA. However, back problems forced her to take it easier for a few months.

On the back of her success with "XSPB", Xuxa launched a video in Argentina in 2005 called "Xuxa Solamente Para Bajitos".

In April 2011, Xuxa launched a show called "Mundo da Xuxa" (Xuxa's World), on Globo TV International. Broadcasted to Brazilian subscribers from every continent, the show is made of the greatest moment of Xuxa's career at Globo, music videos from the XSPB series and the participation of children from all over the world.

Discography

Main article: Xuxa Discography

LPs, CDs e DVDs

In all the show "Xou da Xuxa" ran for six years, and during this time Xuxa collected 139 gold, 52 platinum and 10 diamond records – which comes to more than 14 million copies sold.

Her third album, “Xou da Xuxa 3”, placed her in the Guinness book of Records after selling 3.2 million copies in 1988. It had unforgettable hits, such as: “Ilariê”, “Arco-Íris”, “Abecedário da Xuxa” and “Brincar de Índio”, among others.

The mother in Xuxa saw the need for well-made videos for little children; so, in 2000, she came out with “Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos” and the kit (CD + video) pleased everybody.

“Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 2” was recognized worldwide and won the Latin Grammy Awards for best children's album in 2002.

In 2003, she was again nominated for a Grammy for “Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 3” and won for the second time in the same category.

Her “Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 4” was nominated for the same category in 2004. And the fifth edition, "Xuxa Circo" had enormous sales and was then transformed into a live show playing to full houses and generating a spin-off DVD of the live show itself.

The year 2005 saw the release of “Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 6 – Xuxa Festa”, which was a remix of old hits. It was as big a hit with the young children as it was with their parents when they grew up to the songs of Xuxa. This was also such a hit that it led to a live show and DVD.

In 2006, the record label Som Livre released a collection from the XSPB albums 1–4. In the same year Xuxa released her DVD “Xuxa no Mundo da Imaginação – Era Uma Vez e Clipes da Xuxa” (Xuxa in the World of Make Believe – Once Upon a Time and Xuxa Clips), and also brought out a DVD with recordings from her 20 years at TV Globo, "Especial de 20 anos na TV Globo".

Xuxa released "XSPB 7" in 2007. This was produced by Conspiração Filmes and sought to recapture the joy of long-forgotten toys and games.

"XSPB 8" had school as its theme and came out in 2008. Against a magical and futuristic background, this DVD aimed to teach and entertain at the same time, and quickly climbed to the top of the charts.

For the timeless success of XSPB and demand from new generations of Little Ones coming along every day, Som Livre record label released in 2009 the box set of DVDs called “Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos do 1–8”.

That same year saw a new record label arrive on the scene as Sony Music released the 9th edition of XSPB in both CD and DVD. The theme was Magical Xmas and involved several styles and singers: Ivete Sangalo, Lulu Santos, Zezé di Camargo & Luciano, Padre Marcelo Rossi and Carlinhos Brown.

The 2010 XSPB release is the tenth edition, “XSPB 10 – Baixinhos, Bichinhos e +” (XSPB 10 – Little Ones, Little Animals and More) with songs about animals and about the importance of proper eating. There are special appearances from the singer Maria Gadú and the double act Victor & Leo, as well as from Matheus Chaves, Leo's son. This edition shows images of 273 children who were chosen from over 10,000 home video entries.

With more than 8 million copies sold, the XSPB series has reached its 11th edition in 2011, with an amazing journey around the Earth, in Full HD, 3D Stereo and animations in 2D and 3D. The tracklist combines traditional songs from 11 countries and songs that talk about sustainability, composed specially for "XSPB 11". In 2012, the XSPB 11 DVD was nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards, in the Children's category.

Personal life

Xuxa age 49, revealed in an interview with Fantástico, she suffered sexual abuse in adolescence. According to the presenter, those responsible for the crime were her father's best friend, her grandmother's boyfriend and a teacher. The abuse ended when Xuxa was 13. During the interview, Xuxa also spoke about her love life. She reminded her relationship with Pelé and said she had learned a lot from the player. "He was a person very important to me. We spent six years together," she said. The great love of the presenter, however, was the driver Ayrton Senna, who died in an accident in 1994. "He was the only person who I thought of getting married". She said she never had privacy and their assistants always had to check if there were people hidden under the bed or inside the cabinets. "It's the price I pay," recognizes the presenter regarding the pitfalls of fame. Xuxa also revealed that she met Michael Jackson and visited Neverland, the ranch where the singer he lived. After the visit, the Xuxa said she had received a call from the pop star's manager asking if she would want to marry Michael and have children with him. The answer was no. "I only stay with someone when I fall," she said. The presenter also told that time is cruel to those who work in TV. "I do not look for someone, but blood rushes in these veins. Hormones is which kill us," she reveals. She said that the problems in childhood served as an incentive for her to help other victims of child sexual abuse. "I lived through the true love of my mother and the children," concluded Xuxa.

External links

• (Portuguese) Official website
• Xuxa Meneghel at the Internet Movie Database