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Elis Regina Carvalho Costa, known simply as Elis Regina (March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982) was a singer of Brazilian popular music who achieved great success and recognition during her lifetime. She remains one of the most popular and beloved stars in Brazil.
Elis Regina was born in Porto Alegre, where she began her career as singer at age 11 on a children's radio show, called O Clube Do Guri on Rádio Farroupilha. In 1959, she was contracted by Rádio Gaúcha and in the next year she travelled to Rio de Janeiro where she recorded her first LP, Viva a Brotolândia.
She won her first festival song contest in 1965 singing Arrastão (The Trawling Net) by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes, which, when released as a single, made her the biggest selling Brazilian recording artist since Carmen Miranda.
In the late '60s and early '70s, Elis Regina helped to popularize the work of the tropicalia movement, recording songs by musicians such as Gilberto Gil. Her 1974 collaboration with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Elis & Tom, is often cited as one of the greatest bossa nova albums of all time. She also recorded songs by Milton Nascimento, João Bosco, Aldir Blanc, Chico Buarque, Jorge Ben, Baden Powell, Caetano Veloso and Rita Lee. She possessed an exciting voice and superb intonation, and excelled at up-tempo numbers and ballads under the banner of Brazilian Popular Music Música Popular Brasileira. Her nicknames were "furacão" ("hurricane") and "pimentinha" ("little pepper").
She sometimes criticized the Brazilian dictatorship which had persecuted and exiled many musicians of her generation. In a 1969 interview in Europe, she said that Brazil was being run by "gorillas". Her popularity kept her out of jail, but she was eventually compelled by the authorities to sing the Brazilian national anthem in a stadium show, drawing the ire of many Brazilian Leftists. She was later forgiven because they understood that, as a mother and daughter, she had to protect her family from the dictatorship at any cost. Along with many other artists Elis was living each verse of Geraldo Vandre's political hymn: Yet they make of a flower their strongest refrain, And believe flowers to defeat guns.
When Elis Regina succumbed to an accidental drug-alcohol-tranquilizers overdose in 1982, at the age of 37, she had recorded dozens of top-selling records in her career. Elis Regina has sold over 80 million albums.
Her rendition of Jobim / Vinicius' song "Por Toda A Minha Vida" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2002 movie Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her) directed by Pedro Almodóvar and her song "Roda" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2005 movie Be Cool.(from wikipedia)
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She was the classic superstar. Came from nowhere with talent to back up her diva. Elis was on fire her entire short life musically, emotionally, and politically by risking her life in singing “Arrastão” a song the Brazilian military government banned. No one could resist her voice and performance though officials publicly debated whether she should be arrested. She was forced to make amends by singing the national anthem at a military event. Liberals denounced her for this. Elis lived fast in the 60’s and died young in the 80’s. Left a beautiful mark on music and the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5VlvgItikg