Vinícius de Moraes - Biography
By J Poet
Vinicius de Moraes was a Brazilian singer, composer and lyricist, one of the creators of bossa nova. He wrote the lyrics for “The Girl from Ipanema,” perhaps the most famous bossa nova hit and the play Orfeu da Conceição, which became an international hit when it was filmed as “Black Orpheus.” He continued writing songs and poetry and making albums until his death from lung cancer in 1980.
Marcus Vinicius da Cruz de Mello Moraes was born in Rio in 1913, named after the character Vinicius in Henry Sienkiewicz’s novel Quo Vadis. His parents were intellectuals; his father played music, loved poetry and often gave readings and his mother sang and played piano and guitar. He went to private schools and wrote his first poem when he was seven. At St. Ignatius High School he met Paulo and Haroldo Tapajós and started a band. The brothers became teen recording sensations with de Moraes writing many of their songs including the hits “Canç da noite” and “Loura ou Morena.” He continued writing songs and poems while studying to become a lawyer and put out two books of poetry before he graduated O Caminho Para a Distância and Forma e Exegese. He won a scholarship to study at Oxford University in England in 1938 and joined the Brazilian diplomatic corps in 1943. He was politically conservative until he met the American anti-fascist writer Waldo Frank in 1945. While acting as Frank’s escort, de Moraes saw the crime and poverty of the ghetto and changed his political views. He was a champion of social justice and democracy for the rest of his life.
De Moraes lived in Los Angeles, part of Brazil’s diplomatic mission, in 1946 and met Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth and the jazz musicians who opened his ears to American music. In 1950, he was in Rio again, living a bohemian lifestyle and writing lyrics for the songs of musician friends. He also finished the first draft of Orfeu da Conceição, inspired by the Afro-Brazilian drumming he heard in his neighborhood.
Orfeu da Conceição was produced at Rio's Teatro Municipal in 1956; it was the first time an all-black Brazilian cast had performed at the theater. De Moraes wanted to add some songs to the play and was introduced to a young guitarist and songwriter named Antonio Carlos Jobim. One of the songs Jobim wrote for the play, “Manha de carnaval,” went on to become a touchstone of the then unnamed bossa nova style. The songs they collaborated on were recorded for the Jobim/de Moraes album Orfeu da Conceição (1956 Odeon Brazil.)
De Moraes and Jobim next wrote five songs for the singer Elizeth Cardoso’s album Cancão do amor demas (1958 Estudio El Durado/Fiesta Brazil) one of the first hit bossa nova records. The duo continued writing together and when Marcel Camus filmed Orfeu da Conceição, known internationally as Black Orpheus, they became stars. The film won an Oscar, British Academy Award and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1963, Stan Getz, João Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto recorded a song by De Moraes and Jobim called “The Girl from Ipanema”. It made bossa nova a worldwide phenomenon and brought a Record of the Year Grammy to Getz, the Gilbertos, de Moraes and Jobim.
De Moraes made a classic bossa album as a performer with singer Odette Lara called Vinicius & Odette Lara (1963 Elenco Brazil) and started his own band Quarteto em Cy. The band backed up de Moraes and songwriting legend Dorival Caymmi on Vinicius e Caymmi no Zum Zum (1965 Elenco Brazil.) “Para uma Menina com uma Flor” and “Samba da Bênção,” with music by Baden Powell, were included on the soundtrack of Claude Lelouch’s hit film A Man and a Woman (1966 United Artists) and the album Os Afro-Sambas (1966 Forma Brazil) with Baden Powell, was another hit, musically influential to a generation of samba artists. It is considered one of the best albums put out in Brazil in the 60s.
His first solo album Vinicius (1967 Elenco Brazil) was followed by Amália / Vinicius (1970 EMI Portugal) a collaboration with the great fado singer Amália Rodrigues. In 1969, he started collaborating with the guitarist Antonio Pecci Filho, better known as Toquinho. They toured widely together as an intimate duo with de Moraes telling amusing tales about his life in between songs featuring Toquinho’s dazzling guitar work. They made albums together until de Moraes died including Como Dizia O Poeta (1971 RGE Brazil) with vocalist Marilia Medalha, Sao Demais Os Perigos Desda Vida (1971 RGE Brazil), La Fusa (1971 RGE Brazil), a collaboration with Maria Bethania, Toquinho E Vinicius (1972 RGE Brazil) a bossa nova romp, O Poeta E O Violao (1975 RGE Brazil), La Voglia La Pazzia L'Incoscienza L'Allegria (1976 Warner International) featuring Italian pop singer Ornella Vanoni, and Gravado Ao Vivo No Canecao (1977 Som Libre Brazil) a live date with Jobim and the singer and songwriter Miucha, wife of João Gilberto and mother of Bebel Gilberto.
After a long battle with lung cancer, de Moraes died in Rio in 1980 at the age of 66 in the presence of his wife and Toquinho.
