The honey-toned chanteuse on the surprise Brazilian crossover hit "The Girl From Ipanema," Astrud Gilberto parlayed her previously unscheduled appearance (and professional singing debut) on the song into a lengthy career that resulted in nearly a dozen albums for Verve and a successful performing career that lasted into the '90s. Though her... [+] Read More

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A true heavyweight, perhaps one of the greatest figures in international pop music, Caetano Veloso is a pop musician/poet/filmmaker/political activist whose stature in the pantheon of international pop musicians is on a par with that of Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Lennon/McCartney. And even the most cursory listen to his recorded output over the... [+] Read More

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Celia Cruz was one of Latin music's most respected vocalists. A ten-time Grammy nominee, Cruz, who sang only in her native Spanish language, received a Smithsonian Lifetime Achievement award, a National Medal of the Arts, and honorary doctorates from Yale University and the University of Miami. A street in Miami was even renamed in her honor,... [+] Read More

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Of the early stars of MPB (musica popular brasileira), Chico Buarque was one of the first to become a certifiable pop star. With his warm, nasally croon, elegant phrasing, and considerable skill at lyric writing, Buarque (who is handsome to boot) became extremely popular with women, who loved his understated sensuality. However, Buarque was... [+] Read More

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Gal Costa is an awarded singer with an extensive solo discography and international experience. A fundamental presence in the Tropicalia movement, she has been in Brazil's leading team of singers for decades. Since very young, she has been involved with music as a singer and violão player; when her mother's business broke she became a record... [+] Read More

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Multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter Gilberto Gil joined his first group, the Desafinados, in the mid-'50s and by the beginning of the 1960s was earning a living as a jingle composer. Although known mostly as a guitarist, he also holds his own with drums, trumpet, and accordion.

He began playing the accordion when he was eight,... [+] Read More

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Joyce, in her international career, has recorded 21 solo discs and has had almost 300 recordings of her songs by some of the greatest names in Brazilian and international music, such as Flora Purim, Milton Nascimento, Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, Elizeth Cardoso, Simone, Wallace Roney, and others. Her compositions have been featured... [+] Read More

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Maria Bethânia, sister of Caetano Veloso, is a renowned singer on her own. Her scenic, dramatic abilities, in a profoundly Brazilian tradition, make her performances quite personal, which has brought her a massive and faithful audience over the decades.

As a child, she wanted to be an actress right from the start. But, as her mother... [+] Read More

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International singing superstar and songwriter Milton Nascimento may have his roots in Brazil, but his songs have touched audiences all over the world. Born in Rio, Nascimento's adoptive parents, both white, brought him to Tres Pontas, a small town in the state of Minas Gerais, when he was two. His mother sang in a choir and at local music... [+] Read More

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Perhaps the most talented Brazilian vocalist during the 1950s and '60s, Sylvia Telles preceded the advent of the bossa nova era but quickly became one of its biggest fans, praising with tributes the excellent songwriters Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto. Telles debuted in 1955, and covered her first Jobim tune just one year later. She also... [+] Read More

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