Oscar Castro-Neves

Retouched photo of Castro-Neves from an album cover

Oscar Castro-Neves (born May 15, 1940 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian guitarist, arranger, and composer who is considered a founding figure in Bossa nova. He was born as one of triplets and formed a band with his brothers in his youth. At 16 he had a national hit with Chora Tua Tristeza. Many of the early Bossa Nova musicians began as teens so this was only slightly unusual. In 1962 he was in a Bossa Nova concert at Carnegie Hall, later he toured with Stan Getz and Sergio Mendes. He went on to work with a diverse array of musicians including Yo Yo Ma, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, João Gilberto, Lee Ritenour, Airto Moreira, Toots Thielemans, John Klemmer and Diane Schuur. During the 1970s and early 1980s he was member of Paul Winter's Consort. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California where he has worked as an orchestrator for several films including Blame it on Rio and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.^[1]