María Joaquina de la Portilla Torres was born to a Spanish father (Francisco de la Portilla) and Mexican mother (Julia Torres) in Guanajuato, Mexico. For the first six years of her life she lived in Mexico City, moving to her father’s natal city, Sevilla, in 1888. She studied music in France, with Claude Debussy and Franz Lenhard among her teachers. In 1900 she moved back to Mexico and continued her musical studies at her aunt’s solfège school. In 1907, the then 22-year-old de la Portilla, married Leo A. Grever, an American oil company executive, and in 1916 became a U.S. citizen and moved to New York City where she lived for the rest of her life.

In 1920 she began work as a film composer for Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox studios. Joining ASCAP in 1935, her chief musical collaborators included Stanley Adams and Irving Caesar.

Grever died in 1951 in New York after a prolonged illness. At her own request, her funerary remains were transported to Mexico City. In 1953, Argentine singer-actress and Latin America star Libertad Lamarque portrayed Grever in Cuando me vaya (When I Leave), a biopic directed by Tito Davison. Three years later, Lamarque released a best-selling tribute to Grever’s most popular songs titled Libertad Lamarque canta canciones de Maria Grever.

Her songs have been covered internationally by a variety of artists. In 1959, Dinah Washington recorded “Cuando vuelva a tu lado” under the title “What A Difference A Day Makes” with English lyrics. The recording won a Grammy Award in 1959, and in 1998 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1964, operatic tenor Alfredo Kraus recorded “Júrame” on his album “Siboney.” In 2018, operatic soprano, Ailyn Perez performed “Júrame” live for WFMT in Chicago.