Laudir de Oliveira

Laudir Soares de Oliveira (born January 6, 1940 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is a Brazilian percussionist. He started working professionally in music in the 1960s accompanying Brazilian musicians such as Sérgio Mendes and Marcos Valle. Credited simply as "Laudir", he also appeared on Joe Cocker's 1969 debut album, playing on his hit single "Feelin' Alright".

In 1973, he started working with the band Chicago as a sideman,^[1] playing on the albums Chicago VI and Chicago VII before officially joining the band in 1975. He subsequently appeared on the albums Chicago VIII through Chicago XIV. In 1978, he played with The Jacksons on their album Destiny.

Having left Chicago in 1981, he is now in Brazil teaching music, and doing session and production work. He briefly reunited with Chicago in September 2010 on the occasion of the band's concert at the HSBC Arena in Rio performing Happy Man.

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