Cássia Rejane Eller was a Brazilian musician. She performed a fusion of rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and MPB

Música Popular Brasileira

Música Popular Brasileira or MPB designates a trend in post-Bossa Nova urban popular music. It is not a discrete genre but rather a constellation that combines original songwriting and updated versions of traditional Brazilian urban music styles like samba and samba-canção with contemporary...

.

Biography

After spending most of her adolescence in Brasília

Brasília

Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...

, Eller dropped out of high school and returned to her birthplace of Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, where she began a career as a recording artist. In 1990, she became an underground

Underground music

Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...

 favorite with the release of her self-titled debut album, which contained the song "Rubens," an ambiguous love song that was censored by the authorities. Her follow-up release, 1992's E.C.T., has been called "a battle cry for sexual freedom."

Eller gave birth to a son, Francisco "Chicão" Eller, in 1993. That same year, she went public with her long-term relationship with Maria Eugênia Vieira Martins. She explained that she came out

Coming out

Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 so that her son could grow up without hearing rumors about his mother. As one of Brazil's most prominent lesbian artists, Eller was sometimes called the "South American Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...

."

In addition to her deep and husky singing voice, Eller became known for her brash public image, as she occasionally wore a mohawk

Mohawk hairstyle

The mohawk is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair...

 and bared her breasts on television shows. She posed nude for the artwork of her breakout release, 1999's Com Voce... Meu Mondo Ficaria Completo. The album went gold and earned Eller a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Best Brazilian Rock Album

Latin Grammy Award for Best Brazilian Rock Album

This is a following list of Latin Grammy Award winners for Best Brazilian Rock Album....

. She received another Latin Grammy Award nomination for her cover of "O Segundo Sol," originally by Nando Reis

Nando Reis

Nando Reis is a Brazilian musician and producer, best known as the former bassist and lead singer of Brazilian rock band Titãs and for his successful solo career, with his own band called Os Infernais...

. The song was included on her 2001 album Acustico MTV, a live recording for MTV Brasil

MTV Brasil

MTV Brasil is the Brazilian version of MTV, owned by Abril Mídia, the nation's largest magazine publisher, under license from Viacom - owned MTV Networks Latin AmericaMTV Brasil is one of two versions of MTV available in free-to-air terrestrial television...

 similar to MTV Unplugged

MTV Unplugged

MTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...

, which was also certified gold.

Eller died at the age of 39 on December 29, 2001. She was admitted to a Rio de Janeiro hospital in a disoriented and agitated state, during which she suffered a series of heart attacks; a police investigation concluded that these were due to a heart condition rather than drug use. Custody of Eller's young son, Francisco, was assumed by her partner of 14 years, Eugênia, after an almost one-year legal battle against the child's grandfather, Altair Eller.

Discography

Studio albums

• Cássia Eller (1990)
• O Marginal (1992)
• Cássia Eller (1994)
• Veneno AntiMonotonia (1997)
• Com Você... Meu Mundo Ficaria Completo (1999)
• Dez de Dezembro (2002)

Live albums

• Cássia Eller Ao Vivo (1996)
• Veneno Vivo (1998)
• Cássia Rock Eller (2000)
• Acústico MTV (2001)

Compilation albums

• Minha História (1997)
• Música Urbana (1997)
• Millennium (1998)
• Série Gold (2002)
• Perfil (2003)
• A Arte de Cássia Eller (2004)
• I Love MPB (2004)
• Novo Millennium (2005)
• Raridades (2008)

DVDs

• Com Você... Meu Mundo Ficaria Completo (2000)
• Acústico MTV (2001)
• Álbum MTV (2003)
• Cássia Eller ao Vivo no Rock in Rio (2006)