Leny Andrade

Leny de Andrade Lima (25 January 1943 – 24 July 2023), known professionally as Leny Andrade, was a Brazilian singer whose career spanned more than six decades. Emerging from Rio de Janeiro's nightclub scene in the late 1950s, she developed a style that joined the rhythmic pulse of samba and bossa nova with jazz phrasing and improvisation. Her low, husky voice and use of scat singing became recurring parts of her performances and recordings.

Andrade recorded more than 30 albums and spent much of her career performing outside Brazil, particularly in Mexico, the United States and Europe. Her repertoire moved between samba, bossa nova, MPB, bolero and jazz standards, while improvisation remained a constant in her singing. In 2007, she and pianist César Camargo Mariano won the Latin Grammy Award for Best MPB Album for Ao Vivo.

Early life

Leny de Andrade Lima was born in Rio de Janeiro on 25 January 1943. In 1962, she joined Dick Farney's orchestra in São Paulo. Her second LP, A Arte Maior de Leny Andrade, followed in 1963, with musicians including drummer Milton Banana. In 1965, she joined Pery Ribeiro and Bossa Três in Gemini V, a nightclub show at the Porão 73 in Rio de Janeiro directed by Ronaldo Bôscoli and Luiz Carlos Miele. The show was released as a live album. Andrade also recorded Estamos Aí that year, and its title song became a regular part of her repertoire. In 1992 she spent four nights at the Ballroom in Manhattan, where her performances drew strong reviews. One of her final public performances was with Peranzzetta in 2019.

Dolores Duran was one of Andrade's early musical models. As a teenager, Andrade heard Duran improvise without words and began trying the technique herself. She also kept singing boleros after returning from Mexico. Later albums sometimes placed Brazilian songs beside American standards. Roni Ben-Hur recalled that she preferred to start playing and let an arrangement develop in the room instead of fixing every detail beforehand. Tony Bennett called her "one of the greatest improvisers in the world". Vitor Martins and Ivan Lins wrote "Cantor da Noite" with Andrade in mind, and she recorded the song on her 1983 live album.

In August 2022, Andrade returned to the studio with pianist Gilson Peranzzetta to record Antônio Carlos Jobim and Dolores Duran's "Por Causa de Você". She had sung the song for years but had never recorded it. The single was released in January 2023, around her 80th birthday. After returning to the Retiro dos Artistas, her health worsened and she was admitted to the Hospital de Clínicas de Jacarepaguá. She died there on 24 July, aged 80. Their wakes were held together at the Theatro Municipal on 25 July. Andrade was cremated later that day at Memorial do Carmo. Bossa Nossa – Leny Andrade Canta Fred Falcão (Biscoito Fino, 2018) Canções de Cartola e Nelson Cavaquinho, with Gilson Peranzzetta (Fina Flor, 2018) "Por Causa de Você", with Gilson Peranzzetta (single, 2023)