Nara Leão
Encyclopedia
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
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...
(popular Brazilian music) singer and occasional actress. Her husband was Carlos Diegues
Carlos Diegues
Carlos Diegues, also known as Cacá Diegues, is a Brazilian film director. He is best known as a member of the Cinema Novo movement.-Filmography:* 2010 O Grande Circo Místico...
, director and writer of Bye Bye Brasil
Bye Bye Brasil
Bye Bye Brasil is a Brazilian, French, and Argentine 1979 film, directed by Carlos Diegues. The film enjoyed critical success and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
.
When she was twelve, her father gave her a guitar since he was worried about her being shy. Popular musician and composer Patricio Teixeira and classical guitarist Solon Ayala were her teachers. While still a teenager, she met a number of singers and composers who took part of Bossa Nova's musical revolution, in late '50s and early '60s, including Roberto Menescal
Roberto Menescal
Roberto Menescal is a Brazilian jazz guitarist important to the founding of bossa nova. In many of his songs there are references to the sea. He is also known for work with Carlos Lyra. Menescal has performed in a variety of Latin music mediums, including Brazilian pop, Música Popular Brasileira,...
, Carlos Lyra
Carlos Lyra
Carlos Lyra is a Brazilian singer and composer of numerous bossa nova and Música Popular Brasileira classics. He was born on May 11, 1939. Along with Roberto Menescal, he was a primary figure of the younger generation of bossa nova musicians who closely followed the inception of the style by João...
, Ronaldo Bôscoli
Ronaldo Bôscoli
Ronaldo Fernando Esquerdo Bôscoli, usually known as Ronaldo Bôscoli, or just Bôscoli was a Brazilian composer, songwriter, record producer and journalist....
, João Gilberto
João Gilberto
João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto , is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. His seminal recordings, including many songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, established the new musical genre of Bossa nova in the late 1950s.-Biography:From an early age, music...
, Vinicius de Moraes
Vinicius de Moraes
Marcus Vinicius de Moraes , known as Vinicius de Moraes and nicknamed O Poetinho , was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Son of Lydia Cruz de Moraes and Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes, he was a seminal figure in contemporary Brazilian music...
and Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...
. By 1963, after singing as an amateur for a few years, she became a professional and toured with Sérgio Mendes
Sergio Mendes
Sérgio Santos Mendes is a Brazilian musician. He has released over thirty-five albums, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk....
.
In the mid-1960s, the institution of military dictatorship in Brazil led her to sing increasingly political lyrics. Her show Opinião reflected her political beliefs and she had largely switched to political music by this point. In 1964, she even spoke against bossa nova as a movement, calling it "alienating" . In 1968, she appeared on the album Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses
Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses
Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis is a 1968 collaboration album by artists including Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Zé, Nara Leão, Os Mutantes and Gal Costa...
, performing "Lindonéia."
She later left Brazil for Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and in the 1970s abandoned music to focus on her family. She returned to music later and when she discovered, in 1979, that she had an inoperable brain tumor
Brain tumor
A brain tumor is an intracranial solid neoplasm, a tumor within the brain or the central spinal canal.Brain tumors include all tumors inside the cranium or in the central spinal canal...
she increased her productivity as much as possible. She died in 1989.
She was known as "the muse of bossa nova."
Nara's sister is Danuza Leão, a former model and socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
who's a newspaper columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
and occasional TV commentator. Danuza was married to Brazilian journalist Samuel Wainer
Samuel Wainer
Samuel Wainer was a Brazilian journalist and author. Born to a Jewish family of Bessarabia, he soon moved to Brazil and settled in the São Paulo district of Bom Retiro. He founded and directed the Diretrizes magazine and the Última Hora newspaper...
.
Discography
- 1989: My Foolish HeartMy Foolish Heart (Nara Leão album)My Foolish Heart is an album by Brazilian singer Nara Leão. It was released in 1989.-Track listing:# "Maravilha"...
- 1987: Meus Sonhos Dourados
- 1986: Garota de Ipanema
- 1985: Nara e Menescal - Um Cantinho, Um Violão
- 1984: Abraços E Beijinhos e Carinhos Sem Ter Fim... Nara
- 1983: Meu Samba Encabulado
- 1982: Nasci Para Bailar
- 1981: Romance Popular
- 1980: Com Açúcar, Com Afeto
- 1979: Nara Canta en Castellano
- 1978: Debaixo Dos Caracóis Dos Seus Cabelos
- 1977: Meus Amigos São Um Barato
- 1974: Meu Primeiro Amor
- 1971: Dez Anos DepoisDez Anos Depois (Nara Leão album)Dez Anos Depois is a 1971 album by Brazilian singer Nara Leão.-Track listing:# "Insensatez"# "Samba de Uma Nota Só"# "Retrato Em Branco E Prêto"# "Corcovado"# "Garôta de Ipanema"# "Pois É"# "Chega de Saudade"# "Bonita"# "Você E Eu"...
- 1969: Coisas do Mundo
- 1968: Nara Leão
- 1967: Vento de Maio
- 1967: Nara
- 1966: Liberdade, Liberdade
- 1966: Manhã de Liberdade
- 1966: Nara Pede Passagem
- 1966: Show Opinião
- 1965: Cinco na Bossa
- 1965: O Canto Livre de Nara
- 1964: Opinião de Nara
- 1964: Nara Leão