Song:Madalena
Album:Novo Millennium
Elis Regina was one of Brazil's most popular singers in the 60s and 70s until her tragic 1982 death. She was known as Hurricane or Little Pepper because of her fiery personality. She was born Mar. 17, 1945 in Porto Allegre, Brazil. By age 11, Elis had her own radio show and in 1959, she traveled to Rio de Janeiro to record her debut album. Then she moved to Rio. Elis' breakthrough was winning the 1965 Excelsior Song Contest with the song Arrastao written by Edu Lobo and Vinicius de Moraes. She was the biggest selling Brazilian recording artist since Carmen Miranda. Elis was a big part of advancing Bossa Nova to what was called MPB or Brazilian Popular Music. And she hung around with progressive Brazilian artists like Gal Costa, Caetono Veloso, Gilberto Gil and of course Antonio Carlos Jobim. Madalena was written by legendary composer Ivan Lins. Elis recorded it on her 1971 album Ela and it became one of her biggest hits. Her pianist and arranger on that album was Jose Roberto Bertrami of Azymuth and her bandleader was Erlon Chaves who worked with all the Brazilian legends in the 60s but sadly died in 1974. Elis remained very popular through the 70s even after criticizing the Brazilian dictatorship with comments that would have got anyone else thrown in jail. This budget comp is a good intro to her music. Elis was married twice and after her second marriage ended, she started using cocaine regularly. In 1982, she married for a third time and signed a new record deal. Then she died from an accidental cocaine and alcohol overdose on Jan. 19, 1982 at age 36. So a tragic and premature death to a Brazilian music legend. Here's Elis Regina performing Madalena at the 1979 Montreux Jazz Festival.
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