Elis Regina Carvalho Costa (March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982), known professionally as Elis Regina (Brazilian Portuguese:[eˈlizʁeˈʒinɐ]), was a Brazilian singer of Bossa nova, MPB and jazz music. She is also the mother of the singers Maria Rita and Pedro Mariano.[1]
Childhood home of Elis Regina, in Porto AlegreElis Regina in Teatro da Praia, 1969. National Archives of Brazil
Elis Regina was born in Porto Alegre, where she began her career as a singer at an early age on the children's radio show Clube de Guri.[7] In her early teens she signed a record contract and a couple years later traveled to Rio de Janeiro, where she recorded her first album.[7][2] She won her first festival song contest in 1965 singing『Arrastão』("Pull the Trawling Net")[8]byEdu Lobo and Vinícius de Moraes, which made her the biggest selling Brazilian recording artist since Carmen Miranda. Her second album, Dois na Bossa with Jair Rodrigues, set a national sales record and became the first Brazilian album to sell over one million copies.『Arrastão』increased her popularity because the festival was broadcast via TV and radio. The record represented the beginning of música popular brasileira (Brazilian popular music) and contrasted with bossa nova. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she helped popularize tropicalismo with Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, and Caetano Veloso.
In 1970 she had her first son with first husband Ronaldo Bôscoli. Later on she had two more children with musician Cesar Camargo Mariano.
Regina was nicknamed "hurricane" and "little pepper".[7] She moved to Rio around the time Brazil was ruled by a military group.[7] Although her popularity protected her from reprisal when she criticized the regime while on tour in Europe, she was threatened with imprisonment unless she sang the Brazilian national anthem at an event honoring the anniversary of the coup.[7] In the 1970s she recorded the album Elis and Tom in Los Angeles with Antonio Carlos Jobim.[7] In 1982 she was starting her third marriage when she died from a combination of alcohol and cocaine at the age of thirty-six.[7]
Arashiro, Osny. Elis Regina por ela mesma. M. Claret, 1995.
Echeverria, Regina (1985) Furacão Elis. Inclui cronologia e discografia por Maria Luiza Kfouri. Rio de Janeiro: Nórdica / Círculo do Livro. 363p. 2.ed. rev. ampl. 1994 (São Paulo: Ed. Globo); 3.ed. 2002 (São Paulo: Ed. Globo). 239p. ISBN85-250-3514-9
Goés, Ludenbergue. Mulher brasileira em primeiro lugar: o exemplo e as lições de vida de 130 brasileiras consagradas no exterior. Ediouro Publicações, 2007. ISBN85-00-01998-0
Pugialli, Ricardo. Almanaque da Jovem guarda: nos embalos de uma década cheia de brasa, mora?. Ediouro Publicações, 2006. ISBN85-00-02073-3
Sarsano, José Roberto. (2005) Boulevard des Capucines. Teatro Olympia, Paris 1968: Elis Regina e Bossa Jazz Trio em uma época de ouro da MPB. Ed. Árvore da Terra. 207p. ISBN85-85136-29-4
Silva, Walter. Vou te contar: histórias de música popular brasileira. Conex, 2002. ISBN85-88953-05-6
Elis Regina Por Ela Mesma. (1995) Org. Osny Arashiro. São Paulo: Martin Claret. 2.ed. rev. 2004. 229p. ISBN85-7232-085-7
O Melhor de Elis Regina. (2003) Melodias cifradas com as letras de 28 músicas do repertório de Elis Regina. Ed. Irmãos Vitale. 112p. ISBN85-7407-088-2
