Elis Regina - Biography
By J Poet
Elis Regina had a brief, but important career in Brazilian music. A child prodigy, she was a TV star at and early age, and went on to become one of the most popular singers of the 60s, the first Brazilian artist to sell one million copies of an LP. Known equally for passionate singing and erratic behavior, she soared to the top of the charts, selling over 80 million albums in Brazil alone, before flaming out of a drug overdose shortly before her 37th birthday.
Born into a working class family in Porto Alegre, in Southern Brazil, Regina grew up singing the Brazilian and Argentinean pop songs she heard on the radio. She took piano lessons for two years, from 9 to eleven, but gave it up to sing. At 12 she won a singing contest on Clube do Guri, a children’s TV program. She became a regular on the show, and a local celebrity, despite overwhelming stage fright.
At 16, with her father in tow, she went to Rio de Janeiro and made Viva a Brotolândia (1961 Continental Brazil) a blend of calypso and rock that was quite adventurous for that time, especially for a female singer. She followed it with more traditional bossa albums like O Bem Do Amor (1963 Columbia Brazil), Dois Na Bossa (1965 PolyGram Brazil) a collaboration with singer/songwriter Jair Rodrigues which sold over one million copies, the first Brazilian album to do so, and O Fino Do Fino (1965 PolyGram Brazil) recorded with the Zimbo Trio. In 1965, she performed “Arrastão,” by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes, at the first Brazilian Popular Music Festival and became an overnight sensation. Samba, Eu Canto Assim! (1965 Philips), Dois Na Bossa, No. 2 (1966 PolyGram Brazil) with Jair Rodrigues, Elis (1966 Philips) and Dois Na Bossa, No. 3 (1967 PolyGram Brazil) were all big hits.
In 1965, she sang at the first Brazilian popular music festival, and won first prize for “Arrastao,” a controversial song was almost censored by the ruling junta, but she was too popular so the government backed down. With Jair Rodrigues, Regina hosted the Brazilian TV show, O Fino da Bossa, and continued making albums and concert appearances. She embraced MPB (Música Popular Brasileira/Brazilian Popular Music) and moved away from bossa nova.
Her albums from the late 60s and throughout the 70s embraced the Tropicalia Movement, a progressive political movement personified in music by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, who both penned anti-government songs and embraced a more traditional Afro-Brazilian sound, although she still made bossa nova albums as well. She closed the 60s with Elis Especial (1968 PolyGram Brazil), recorded with a piano trio, Elis, Como & Porque (1969 PolyGram Brazil) Aquarela Do Brasil (1969 Philips) with Toots Thielmans, and Elis Regina in London (1969 PolyGram) a live record of her triumphal tour of Europe and Latin America.
In 1974 PolyGram sent her to la to make and album with Antonio (Tom) Carlos Jobim. The result, Elis & Tom (1974 Verve), is considered by Brazilians to be one of the best LPs of all time. In the 70s, she began putting on stage productions of songs accompanied by mines and dancers. The records of these productions including Falso Brilhante (1976 Verve) Essa Mulher (1979 Som Livre Brazil, 1989 Tropical Storm), Saudade Do Brasil (1980 WEA Latina), and Trem Azul (1981 Som Livre Brazil) were all hits.
Her other notable 70s albums: Ela (1971 PolyGram International), 20 Anos Blue (1972 Philips), Elis Oriente (1973 PolyGram), Na Batucada da Vida (1974 Philips), Caxangá (1977 PolyGram), Elis Especial (1979 Philips) She was working on an album of new songs when she accidentally overdosed on cocaine and alcohol in 1982.
