Milton Nascimento

Milton Silva Campos do Nascimento (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈmiwtõ ˈsiwvɐ ˈkɐ̃puz du nasiˈmẽtu]; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

Nascimento has recorded 32 studio albums and has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his album Nascimento in 1998, and twelve Brazilian Music Awards. He has collaborated with various artists including Björk, Pat Metheny, Caetano Veloso, and Elis Regina.

Biography

Milton Nascimento was born in the boarding house Dona Augusta in the neighborhood of Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, where his mother, Maria do Carmo do Nascimento, was a maid. Maria raised her son on her own, until dying of tuberculosis when he was two, thereafter he was taken care of by his maternal grandmother. Nascimento was then adopted as a young child by the relatives of the grandmother's former employers; Josino Brito Campos, a bank employee, mathematics teacher and electronic technician and Lília Silva Campos, a music teacher and choir singer. He moved with his adoptive parents to the city of Três Pontas, in the state of Minas Gerais. When Nascimento was a child, he was nicknamed "Bituca" because he pouted when he was upset, which made him look like a native botocudo.

Nascimento took an interest in music as a child thanks to his mother, who studied under Villa Lobos. At four years old, he was given an accordion and began to sing. At 13 years old, he became a crooner in the group Continental de Duilio Tiso Cougo. Nascimento was also an occasional DJ on a radio station that his father once ran. He lived in the neighborhoods of Laranjeiras and Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1968, Nascimento was married to a student named Lurdeca in Tijuca. The couple lived in Copabacana, though the marriage only lasted a month, later being annulled. After this, he chose to dedicate his time to music instead of marrying or having kids, however, he would later adopt a son, Augusto Kesrouani do Nascimento, in 2016 after ten years of knowing him.

Clube da Esquina

In the early stages of his career, Nascimento played in two samba groups, Evolussamba and Sambacana. He would also play in the group W's Boys alongside Wagner Tiso in Três Pontas. In 1962, he recorded his first song "Barulho de Trem." A year later, in 1963, he moved to Belo Horizonte, where his friendship with Lô Borges led to the Clube da Esquina ("street corner club") movement. Members included Beto Guedes, Toninho Horta, Wagner Tiso, and Flávio Venturini, with whom he shared compositions and melodies. One composition was "Canção do Sal", which was first covered by singer Elis Regina in 1966, and led to a television appearance with Nascimento. The collective, as well as some others, released Clube da Esquina in 1972. Several hit singles were also released.

In 1967, he entered the Festival Internacional da Canção after Agostinho dos Santos had sent in three of his tracks to the search committee. He placed second with "Travessia" ("Bridges") and was able to score a three-album contract with Creed Taylor who had been in attendance. He moved to the United States to record with Taylor, beginning with the album Courage in 1969.

Nascimento's compositions include songs such as "Nada Será Como Antes" ("Nothing Will Be As It Was"), "Maria, Maria", "Canção da América" ("Song from America"/"Unencounter"), "Bailes da Vida", and "Coração de Estudante" ("Student's Heart"), a song about the funeral of Edson Luís, who was killed by police officers in 1968. The song became the hymn for the Diretas Já social-political campaign in 1984, was played at the funeral of President-elect Tancredo Neves the next year, and was also played at Ayrton Senna's funeral.

Diversification

While his reputation within Brazil was firmly established with his Clube da Esquina works, Nascimento's international breakthrough came with his appearance on jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter's 1974 album Native Dancer. This led to widespread acclaim, and collaborations with Paul Simon, Sarah Vaughan, Mercedes Sosa, Carlos Santana, Pablo Milanés, Cat Stevens, George Duke, Quincy Jones and Earth, Wind And Fire. Angelus (1994) features appearances by Pat Metheny, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, Nana Vasconcelos, Jon Anderson, James Taylor, and Peter Gabriel, among many others. Through his friendship with guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, Nascimento came to work with the pop rock band Duran Duran in 1993. Nascimento co-wrote and performed the song "Breath After Breath", featured on the band's 1993 album Duran Duran. He also performed with the band in concert when they toured in Brazil in support of that album.

In 1996, Nascimento contributed the song "Dancing" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Rio, produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Ser Minas Tão Gerais

Nascimento starred in the 2002 musical theater piece Ser Minas Tão Gerais by the group Ponto de Partida. The piece paid homage to the poetry of Nascimento and Carlos Drummond de Andrade, two "iconic" poets from Minas Gerais.