Sérgio Mendes

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Sergio Mendes
Birth name Sérgio Santos Mendes
Born February 11, 1941 (1941-02-11) (age 67)
Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Origin Flag of Brazil Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Genre(s) Bossa nova
Samba,
Latin jazz
Latin pop
Lounge music
Soft rock
Smooth jazz
Occupation(s) Bandleader, pianist, arranger, composer, producer
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active 1961 – present
Label(s) Capitol, Atlantic, A&M, Elektra, Concord
Associated acts Sexteto Bossa Rio
The Sergio Mendes Trio
Brasil '65 ('66) ('77)

Sérgio Santos Mendes, pron. IPA: ['sɛxʒiu 'sɐ̃tus 'mẽ'dʒis], (born February 11, 1941 in Niterói, Brazil) is a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian musician.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

The child of a physician in Niterói, Brazil, Mendes attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late-1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was taking off. Mendes played with Antonio Carlos Jobim (regarded as a mentor) and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil.

Mendes is married to Gracinha Leporace who regularly sings backing vocals for her husband and can also be heard on his 2006 version of the song Mas Que Nada with The Black Eyed Peas.

[edit] Career

Sergio Mendes authored Olympia, theme of the Los Angeles' 1984 Summer Olympics.
Sergio Mendes authored Olympia, theme of the Los Angeles' 1984 Summer Olympics.

Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the Brasil '65 group name with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records. When sales were tepid, he replaced his Brazilian born vocalist Wanda de Sa with the distinctive voice of Chicago native Lani Hall (who learned Mendes' Portuguese material phonetically), switched to Herb Alpert's A&M label, and released Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, an album that went platinum based largely on the success of the single "Mas Que Nada" (a Jorge Ben cover) and the personal support of Alpert, with whom Mendes toured regularly.

[edit] Brasil '66

The original lineup of Brasil '66 was Mendes (piano), vocalists Lani Hall and Janis Hansen, Bob Matthews (bass), Jose Soares (percussion) and Joao Palma (drums). John Pisano was the guest guitarist. This line-up recorded three albums between 1966-1968 (including the best-selling Look Around LP), before there was a major personnel change for their fourth album Fool on the Hill. Karen Philipp replaced Hansen as the second female vocalist, while veteran drummer Dom Um Romao teamed with Rubens Bassini to assume percussionist duties. Sebastiao Neto was the new bassist and Oscar Castro-Neves the guitarist. This line up had a more orchestrated and big band sound than their predecessors. Most significantly, in the early 1970s, lead singer Hall pursued a solo career and became Alpert's second wife. Some accounts claim that Mendes was upset with Alpert for years for "stealing" Hall away from his group.

Though his early singles with Brasil '66 (most notably Mas Que Nada) met with some success, Mendes really burst into mainstream prominence when he performed the Oscar nominated Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "The Look of Love" on the Academy Awards telecast in March 1968. Brasil '66's version of the song quickly shot into the top 10, eclipsing Dusty Springfield's version from the soundtrack of the movie, Casino Royale, and Mendes spent the rest of 1968 enjoying consecutive top 10 and top 20 hits with his follow-up singles, "The Fool on the Hill" and "Scarborough Fair." Though he continued to enjoy adult contemporary chart successes with Brasil '66 through 1971 (a group name change to the more forward-looking "Brasil '77" didn't reignite sales), he would not experience the mainstream chart hits he enjoyed in 1968 until his comeback album in 1983 generated the biggest single of his career, "Never Gonna Let You Go," sung by Joe Pizzulo and Leza Miller, which peaked at #4 on the Billboard charts. However, from 1968 on, Mendes was arguably the biggest Brazilian star in the world, enjoying immense popularity worldwide and performing in venues as varied as stadium arenas and the White House, where he gave concerts for both Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon.

Mendes' career in the U.S. stalled in the mid-1970s, but he remained very popular in South America and Japan. His two albums with Bell Records in 1973 and 1974, followed by several for Elektra from 1975 on, found Mendes continuing to mine the best in American pop music and post-Bossa writers of his native Brazil, while forging new directions in soul with collaborators like Stevie Wonder, who wrote Mendes' R&B-inflected minor hit, "The Real Thing." In 1983, he rejoined Alpert's A&M records and enjoyed huge success with a self-titled album and several follow-up albums, all of which received considerable adult contemporary airplay with charting singles. By the time Mendes released his Grammy-winning Elektra album Brasileiro in 1992, he was the undisputed master of pop-inflected Brazilian jazz. The late-1990s lounge music revival brought retrospection and respect to Mendes' oeuvre, particularly the classic Brasil '66 albums. His stature in his native Brazil is reflected by "Cantor de Mambo," a song by fellow Brazilians Os Mutantes, which they regularly dedicate to Mendes in concert. He has released over thirty-five albums, and still plays his bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk.

[edit] Timeless

Timeless features a wide array of neo-soul and alternative hip hop guest artists, most prominently will.i.am and The Black Eyed Peas. It was released February 14, 2006 by Concord Records.

It features The Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu, Black Thought, Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, India.Arie, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Q-Tip, Stevie Wonder and Pharoahe Monch.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • 1961: Dance Moderno
  • 1963: Quiet Nights
  • 1963: Você ainda não ouviu nada (Sérgio Mendes & Bosso Rio)
  • 1964: The Swinger From Rio
  • 1964: Bossa Nova York - Sergio Mendes Trio
  • 1964: Cannonball's Bossa Nova with Bossa Rio
  • 1964: In Person at El Matador - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '65
  • 1965: Brasil '65. Wanda de Sah featuring The Sergio Mendes Trio
  • 1966: The Great Arrival, 1966, LP/CD
  • 1966: Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66,
  • 1967: Equinox - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
  • 1967: The Beat of Brazil
  • 1968: Sergio Mendes Favorite Things
  • 1968: Look Around - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
  • 1968: The Fool on the Hill - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
  • 1969: Crystal Illusions - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
  • 1970: Ye-me-lê. Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
  • 1970: Live at Expo' 70. Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
  • 1971: Stillness - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
  • 1971: País Tropical - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77
  • 1972: Primal Roots (AKA Raizes) - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77
  • 1973: Love Music - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77
  • 1973: In Concert - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77'
  • 1974: Vintage 74 - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77
  • 1975: Sergio Mendes
  • 1976: Homecooking - Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77
  • 1977: Sergio Mendes & and the New Brasil '77'
  • 1978: Brasil '88
  • 1978: Pelé - (Original Soundtrack)
  • 1979: Magic Lady, 1979
  • 1979: Horizonte Aberto
  • 1983: Sergio Mendes
  • 1984: Confetti
  • 1986: Brasil '86, 1986
  • 1989: Arara
  • 1992: Brasileiro
  • 1996: Oceano
  • 2006: Timeless
  • 2008: Encanto

[edit] Billboard Hot 100 Hits (USA)

Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66:

Sergio Mendes:

  • 1983 - "Never Gonna Let You Go" - #4 (Adult Contemporary #1/4 wks.; vocals: Joe Pizzulo, Leeza Miller)
  • 1983 - "Rainbow's End" - #52 (vocals: Dan Sembello)
  • 1984 - "Olympia" - #58 (vocals: Joe Pizzulo)
  • 1984 - "Alibis" - #29 (vocals: Joe Pizzulo)

[edit] References

  • McGowan, Chris and Pessanha, Ricardo. "The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil." 1998. 2nd edition. Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-545-3

[edit] External links