Gilberto Gil | Artist

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira aka Gilberto Gil is a Bazilian singer-songwriter and politician, born 1942 in Salvador, Brazil. A leader of Brazil's Tropicalia movement during the late '60s, multi-instrumentalist Gil mixed native styles like samba, MPB, and bossa nova with rock and folk instruments to become one of Brazil's and the world's most celebrated singer/songwriters. Gil's career has spanned seven decades, and he has won Grammy Awards for Best World Music Album and Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2005, and Latin Grammys, including three in 2001, 2002, and 2010 for "best Brazilian popular music album." He has sold tens of millions of recordings. As a child, Gil's interest in music was precocious: "When I was only two or two and a half", he recalled, "I told my mother I was going to become a musician or president of my country". He grew up listening to the forró music of his native northeast, and took an interest in the street performers of Salvador. In high school he joined his first band, Os Desafinados "The Out of Tunes", playing accordion and vibraphone and singing. Later at university Gil met guitarist and singer Caetano Veloso. The two began performing together, releasing a single and EP. Along with Maria Bethânia (Veloso's sister), Gal Costa, and Tom Zé, Gil and Veloso performed bossa nova and traditional Brazilian songs at the Vila Velha Theatre's opening night in July 1964. He collaborated again with this collective on the landmark 1968 album Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses, whose style was influenced by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which Gil listened to constantly. Gil describes that collaboration as the birth of the tropicália movement. As a recording artist, Gil has made over 40 studio albums plus many live albums, EPs and Singles, many of which became highly successful commercially. Standouts include Gilberto Gil (1968), Gilberto Gil (1969), Expresso 2222 (1972), Ogum Xangô - w/ Jorge Ben (1975), Refazenda (1975), Refavela (1977), and the 1998 soundtrack to the film Copacabana mon amour . Also recommended is the collaboration Brasil (1981). In October 1968, Gil and Veloso performed at Sucata club in Rio de Janeiro. A journalist from RecordTV spread a story that the two had sung the Brazilian National Anthem in subversive parody and they were arrested without trial by the Brazilian military government. The pair were brought to Rio de Janeiro, and spent three months in prison and another four under house arrest, before being freed on the condition that they leave the country. They both took up residence in London for four years, becoming involved in the music scene. Returning to Brazil in 1972, Gil focused on his musical career and environmental advocacy work. The miliitary dictatorship ended in 1985 and Gil's political career began in 1987, when he was elected to a local post in Bahia and became the Salvador secretary of culture. In 1988, he was elected to the city council as city commissioner for environmental protection. In 1990 Gil left the Democratic Movement Party and joined the Green Party, when he founded the environmental protection organization Onda Azul ("Blue Wave"), which worked to protect Brazilian waters. In 2001 Gil became a Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. When President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in January 2003, he chose Gil as Brazil's new Minister of Culture, the second black person to serve in the country's cabinet.

Artist Website: wikipedia.org/Gilberto_Gil

Featured Albums: Gilberto Gil

Related Artists: Caetano Veloso, Jorge Ben, João Gilberto