Elis Regina

Elis Regina Carvalho Costa (March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982), known professionally as Elis Regina , was a Brazilian singer of bossa nova, MPB and jazz music. She is also the mother of the singers Maria Rita and Pedro Mariano.

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. She was noted for her vocalization as well as for her interpretation and performances in shows. Her recordings include "Como Nossos Pais" (Belchior), "Upa Neguinho" (E. Lobo and Gianfrancesco Guarnieri), "Madalena" (Ivan Lins), "Casa no Campo" (Zé Rodrix and Tavito), "Águas de março" (Tom Jobim), "Atrás da Porta" (Chico Buarque and Francis Hime), "O Bêbado e a Equilibrista" (Aldir Blanc and João Bosco), "Conversando no Bar" (Milton Nascimento), "Alô, Alô Marciano" (Rita Lee and Roberto de Carvalho).

Her death, at the age of 36, shocked Brazil.

Biography

Elis Regina in Teatro da Praia, 1969. National Archives of Brazil

Elis Regina was born in Porto Alegre, where she began her career as a singer at an early age on the children's radio show Clube de Guri. In her early teens she signed a record contract and a couple years later traveled to Rio de Janeiro, where she recorded her first album. by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes, which made her the biggest selling Brazilian recording artist since Carmen Miranda. Her second album, Dois na Bossa with Jair Rodrigues, set a national sales record and became the first Brazilian album to sell over one million copies. "Arrastão" increased her popularity because the festival was broadcast via TV and radio. The record represented the beginning of música popular brasileira (Brazilian popular music) and contrasted with bossa nova. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she helped popularize tropicalismo with Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, and Caetano Veloso. In 1970 she had her first son with first husband Ronaldo Bôscoli. Later on she had two more children with musician Cesar Camargo Mariano.

Regina was nicknamed "hurricane" and "little pepper".

Legacy On August 18, 1997 Regina was posthumously awarded with the rank of the Order of Prince Henry of Portugal.

In 2005, a memorial space was opened at the Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana in Porto Alegre, Brazil to house the Elis Regina Collection. The space exhibits audiovisuals, CDs, articles and other media materials and documents about the life and work of Regina.

Discography Studio albums

Live albums In life

Posthumous Year Album 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival 1982 Trem Azul1984 Luz das Estrelas 1995 Elis ao Vivo 1998 Elis Vive 2012 Um Dia Compilation albums Posthumous Year Album 2001 Sucessos Inesquecíveis de Elis Regina