Elis Regina

Elis Regina Carvalho Costa, known simply as Elis Regina (Portuguese pronunciation: [eˈlis ʁeˈʒinɐ]; March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982) was an important singer of Brazilian popular music.

She became nationally renowned in 1965, after singing Arrastão (composed by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes) in the first edition of TV Excelsior festival song contest, and soon joined O Fino da Bossa, a television program on TV Record. Elis was noted for her perfect vocalization, as well as for her personal interpretation and outstanding performances in shows. She recorded several successful compositions, such as Upa Neguinho (E. Lobo and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri), Madalena (Ivan Lins), Casa no Campo (Sá e Guarabira), Águas de Março (Tom Jobim), Atrás da porta (Chico Buarque), O bêbado e a equilibrista (Aldir Blanc and João Bosco), Conversando no bar (Milton Nascimento), etc. Her premature death, at the age of 36, shocked Brazil. Elis Regina is widely regarded as the best Brazilian singer of all times by many critics, musicians, and commentators.

Elis Regina was born in Porto Alegre, where she began her career as a singer at age 11 on a children's radio show, 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 (Long Live Teenage Land).
She won her first festival song contest in 1965 singing Arrastão (Pull The Trawling Net) 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 became the first Brazilian LP to sell over one million copies. Arrastão by Elis also launched her career for a national audience, since that festival was broadcast via TV and radio. For the history of Brazilian music, the record represented the beginning of a new musical style that would be known as MPB (Música Popular Brasileira or Brazilian Popular Music), distinguished from the previous bossa nova.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, along with Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, Elis Regina helped to popularize the work of the tropicalismo (Tropicália) 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,Guinga, Jorge Ben, Baden Powell, Caetano Veloso and Rita Lee. 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 both 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 Vandré's political hymn:: Yet they make of a flower their strongest refrain, And believe flowers to defeat guns. While her earlier records were mostly apolitical, from the mid-'70s on her music became more engaged, and she began to choose compositions and structure her conceptually complex live shows in ways as to criticize the military government, capitalism, racial and sexual injustice and other forms of inequality. Lyrics to songs recorded towards the end of her career carried overt socialist leanings, and in 1980, she joined the Workers' Party.

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.
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 and/or producers. 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, Elis' running commentary introducing each song, and an interview. Pedro Camargo Mariano most recently sang with his father, the brilliant pianist and arranger Cesar Camargo Mariano, on a Latin Grammy-nominated CD called "Piano & Voz" (Piano and Voice). More DVDs of Elis Regina performances have subsequently been released.

Elis Regina died at the age of 36 in 1982, from an accidental cocaine, alcohol, and temazepam interaction. She had recorded dozens of top-selling records in her career. Her death shocked Brazil. More than 25,000 people, among friends, relatives and fans, held her wake at Teatro Bandeirantes, in São Paulo, a highly emotive ceremony, with large groups of fans singing her songs. More than 1,000 people followed her funeral procession throughout São Paulo. She was buried in Cemitério do Morumbi.



Elis Regina fue una de las cantantes brasileñas más populares en los años sesenta y setenta.
Nació —con el nombre de Elis Regina Carvalho Costa— el 17 de marzo de 1945 y falleció el 19 de enero de 1982. Elis Regina nació en Porto Alegre (al sur de Brasil), donde empezó su carrera como cantante a los 11 años en el programa de radio para niños O Clube do Gurí en la radio Farroupilha.

En 1959 fue contratada por Rádio Gaúcha y al año siguiente viajó a Río de Janeiro, donde grabó su primer LP, Viva a Brotolândia. Su segundo LP, con Jair Rodrigues, Dois na bossa, fijó un récord de ventas nacional.
A finales de los años sesenta y principios de los setenta, Regina ayudó a popularizar el trabajo del movimiento Tropicalia, grabando canciones de músicos como Gilberto Gil.
Elis Regina a menudo criticó la dictadura brasileña que persiguió y exilió a muchos músicos de su generación. En una entrevista en 1969, declaró que Brasil estaba siendo gobernado por "gorilas". Su popularidad la mantuvo fuera de prisión, pero finalmente fue obligada por las autoridades a cantar el himno nacional de Brasil durante un espectáculo en un estadio, lo que despertó la ira de muchos brasileños de izquierda.
En 1974 editó con Tom Jobim el álbum Elis & Tom, considerado por críticos musicales como uno de los mejores discos de bossa nova de todos los tiempos.

Tuvo tres hijos: João Marcelo Bôscoli (hijo de su enlace con Ronaldo Bôscoli), y Pedro Camargo Mariano y Maria Rita Mariano (hijos también del pianista y compositor César Camargo Mariano). María Rita ha logrado ser una cantante de mucha popularidad.
Elis Regina murió por una sobredosis de drogas, tranquilizantes y alcohol en 1982, a los 36 años. Aunque se divulgaron algunas noticias que Elis fue asesinada por el alto mando de la dictadura militar, ya que el relato oficial de su autopsia tardo demasiado tiempo en salir en los diarios y prensa nacional y su muerte se llenó de especulación. Hasta el día de hoy no se sabe con exactitud que pasó en su casa el día de su muerte.