Francisco Ribeiro was a Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 cellist, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, lyricist

Lyricist

A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...

, vocalist, arranger

Arrangement

The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

 and record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

. He was born in Lisbon, Portugal.

Ribeiro is best known for being one of the founding members of Madredeus

Madredeus

Madredeus is a Portuguese band. Their music combines traditional Portuguese music with influences of modern folk music...

, a group that combined traditional Portuguese music with influences from contemporary folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

. In 1997, he left Madredeus to complete his musical training in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He returned to Portugal in 2006. In December 2009, he released The Junction Well, the first album by his personal project Desiderata.

While in England, Ribeiro was a member of the Gloucester and Stroud Symphony Orchestras from 2002 through 2003. He graduated from Bath Spa University in Music and Composition, and also studied at Gloucester Tech College while attendjng the Music Academy of Santa Cecilia.

Ribeiro also collaborated on the soundtrack for the 1994 film

1994 in film

1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...

 Lisbon Story, directed by Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders

Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...

, and was actively involved in various music projects and festivals.

Ribeiro died in Lisbon from liver cancer

Liver cancer

Liver tumors or hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . Several distinct types of tumors can develop in the liver because the liver is made up of various cell types. These growths can be benign or malignant...

at the age of 45.

Sources