Elis Regina

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Elis Regina

Background information
Birth name Elis Regina Carvalho Costa
Also known as Pimentinha or Furacão
Born March 17, 1945(1945-03-17)
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Died January 19, 1982 (aged 36)
São Paulo, Brazil
Genre(s) Bossa nova, MPB
Years active 1961 – 1982

Elis Regina Carvalho Costa, known simply as Elis Regina (March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982) was a singer of Brazilian popular music who achieved great success and recognition during her lifetime. She remains one of the most popular and beloved stars in Brazil.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Elis Regina was born in Porto Alegre, where she began her career as singer at age 11 on a children's radio show, called O Clube Do Guri on Rádio Farroupilha. In 1959, she was contracted by Rádio Gaúcha and in the next year she travelled to Rio de Janeiro where she recorded her first LP, Viva a Brotolândia.

She won her first festival song contest in 1965 singing Arrastão (The Trawling Net)[1] by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes, which, when released as a single, made her the biggest selling Brazilian recording artist since Carmen Miranda. The second LP with Jair Rodrigues, Dois na Bossa, set a national sales record and first LP to achieve over one million copies. Arrastão by Elis also launched her career for a national audience since that festival was broadcasted via Tv and radio. As for the history of Brazilian music it represented the beginning of a new music style that would be known as MPB (Música Popular Brasileira or Brazilian Popular Music), distinguished from the previous bossa nova.

In the late '60s and early '70s, Elis Regina helped to popularize the work of the tropicalia movement, recording songs by musicians such as Gilberto Gil. Her 1974 collaboration with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Elis & Tom, is often cited as one of the greatest bossa nova albums of all time, which also includes what many consider the all-time best Brazilian song, "Águas de Março". She also recorded songs by Milton Nascimento, João Bosco, Aldir Blanc, Chico Buarque, Jorge Ben, Baden Powell, Caetano Veloso and Rita Lee. She possessed an exciting voice and superb intonation, and excelled at up-tempo numbers and ballads under the banner of Brazilian Popular Music Música Popular Brasileira. Her nicknames were "furacão" ("hurricane") and "pimentinha" ("little pepper").

She sometimes criticized the Brazilian dictatorship which had persecuted and exiled many musicians of her generation. In a 1969 interview in Europe, she said that Brazil was being run by "gorillas". Her popularity kept her out of jail, but she was eventually compelled by the authorities to sing the Brazilian national anthem in a stadium show, drawing the ire of many Brazilian Leftists. She was later forgiven because they understood that, as a mother and daughter, she had to protect her family from the dictatorship at any cost. Along with many other artists Elis was living each verse of Geraldo Vandre's political hymn:[2]: Yet they make of a flower their strongest refrain, And believe flowers to defeat guns.

Her rendition of Jobim / Vinicius' song "Por Toda A Minha Vida" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2002 movie Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her) directed by Pedro Almodóvar and her song "Roda" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2005 movie Be Cool.

When Elis Regina succumbed to an accidental alcohol-temazepam overdose in 1982, at the age of 36, she had recorded dozens of top-selling records in her career [3]. Her death swept the country in mourning. Elis Regina has sold over 80 million albums.

[edit] Family

Elis married twice and gave birth to three children. Her first marriage was to Ronaldo Bôscoli in 1967. She gave birth to a son, João Marcelo Bôscoli, in 1970.

She later married her long-time collaborator César Camargo Mariano, and had two more children with him: Pedro Camargo Mariano in 1975, and Maria Rita in 1977. The three children all later became musicians, whose careers were only intermittently successful. After many years of complete obscurity, Maria Rita became a national singing sensation after a lengthy marketing campaign, like her mother, winning three Latin Grammies for her debut eponymous CD. João Marcello Boscoli, owner of the Trama recording company, produced the first Elis Regina DVD allowing many of her fans to see her performing for the first time. The DVD was a recording of a 1973 Brazilian TV show featuring songs and an interview. Boscoli's soul and MPB incursions failed to make an impact. Pedro Camargo Mariano was only noticed when he sang with his father, the brilliant pianist and arranger Cesar Camargo Mariano, on a Latin Grammy-nominated CD called "Piano & Voz" (Piano and Voice). His own records did not meet with commercial success.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Posthumous releases

  • Trem Azul (1982) (live)
  • Vento de Maio (1983) (compilation)
  • Luz das Estrelas (1984)
  • Elis Regina no Fino da Bossa (1994) (live)
  • "Dose Dupla-Elis Regina" (1994) (digital compilation of first 2 recordings from 1961 and 1962)
  • Elis ao Vivo (1995) (live)
  • 20 Anos de Saudade (2002) (compilation)
  • Little Pepper: The Definitive Collection (2004) (compilation)
  • "Elis Regina: MPB Especial 1973" - black and white DVD released in 2005 (TV show)
  • "Elis Regina Carvalho Costa" - full color DVD released in 2006 (live show)
  • "Por toda a minha vida" - Brazilian TV GLOBO special in 12/28/2006 (TV show)
  • Pérolas Raras (2006)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Arrastão venceu fácil, mas outra música de Vinícius não convenceu Banco de dados: Folha de S.Paulo (Portuguese)
  2. ^ Ainda fazem da flor seu mais forte refrão, E acreditam nas flores vencendo o canhão
  3. ^ Veja, Especial Elis Regina

[edit] External links