Céu

 CeU said:"Brazilians are very festive when they go to my shows, lots of dancing. In the U.S., people like to really listen, and I like that too. France was a lot the same way, they're listening for the tale you are trying to tell them," CéU explains. Her tales mostly consist of what she calls her "diary," the lyrics a series of events and moments that she's remembered from over the years. "I like to think that people understand what is going on, even if they don't know what it is that I'm singing."

Starbucks at least understood CéU's appeal and signed her as the fourth artist to its Hear Music roster. The album sold well from out of the coffee chain's shops, as well as in retail outlets. "I don't really know much about Starbucks. I think we might have just gotten one in Brazil. I had no idea that it was this huge thing," she says. "I don't know the American culture very well, but now I'm really learning."

Official Site at My Space:

http://www.myspace.com/ceumusic

Another site:

 http://www.ceumusic.com/ 

At you tube:

Song Lenda

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=aA6ome0TWd4 

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=o-CGhosoaHY&mode=related&search=

With Amsterdan Symphony Orchestra:

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=gOsy3v2-7pE

CéU (spelled with the uppercase "U" and pronounced IPA: [sɛw]), whose full name is Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter whose first American album was released on the Six Degrees label in April 2007. Born around 1980 into a musical São Paulo, Brazil, family, her father being a composer, arranger and musicologist. It was from her father that she learned to appreciate Brazil's classical music composers, particularly Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ernesto Nazaré and Orlando Silva.

By age fifteen she had decided to become a musician and by her late teens she had studied music theory, as well as the violão (nylon-stringed Brazilian guitar). Her songs reveal her many influences, which include samba, valsa, choro, soul, rhythm and blues, hip hop, afrobeat and electrojazz music.

As CéU herself explained, "I have a passion for Black culture, from Jazz divas to Afro beat. Everything comes from Africa. With Samba, I have a very strong connection to the old school that we call 'Samba de raiz' (Root Samba). I am a vinyl listener, so I tried to bring some of that to the CD, mixing it with modern things like rap or even 'Brega', which is the newest thing in Brazil."

In particular, she cites as influences the music of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu.

Major U.S. record labels approached CéU about re-releasing her 2005 album (originally issued on the Sao Paulo indie label Urban Jungle), but she refused, preferring to sign with the smaller Six Degrees label, which offered her more artistic freedom.

In 2006 she received a Latin Grammy nomination for “best new artist” of that year.

Outside of South America, she has sizeable fan bases in France, Holland, Italy, and Canada, where one of her songs reached number 32 on the Canadian pop music charts.