Adriana Calcanhotto (born October 3, 1965) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter. Her melancholic songs are often categorized in the MPB genre. She began her professional career in 1984 and released her first studio album in 1990.

Career

Born from musician Carlos Calcanhotto (originally Calcagnotto) of Italian origin from

Volpago del Montello Volpago del Montello is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about northwest of Treviso on the southern slopes of Montello. History The fall of the Republic of ...

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, and from a Brazilian dancer. Adriana's first album, called ''Enguiço'', was released in 1990 and consisted mostly of covers of well known MPB (Brazilian pop) songs, part of the repertoire she used to perform as a singer in restaurants and bars in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

. It included only one original composition, the title track. It spawned her first hit, a cover of Caetano Veloso's ''Naquela Estação'', which became successful thanks to it being included in the soundtrack of the primetime soap ''Rainha da Sucata'', one of the most watched in the history of Brazilian television. 1992 saw the release of ''Senhas'', which included the hits "Mentiras" and "Esquadros" and was followed by a successful national tour. In 1994, Adriana, sporting a new look (short black hair as opposed to the slightly longer bright blond haircut she'd had since the beginning of her career) released ''A Fábrica do Poema'', considered by many to be her most poetic album. She collaborated with lyricists like

Waly Salomão Waly Dias Salomão (September 3, 1943 – May 5, 2003) was a Brazilian poet. He was born in Jequié, Bahia. He acted on several areas of Brazilian culture as poet, songwriter and writer. His first book was “Me segura qu’eu vou dar um troç ...

and António Cícero (brother and constant musical partner of fellow singer

Marina Lima Marina Correia Lima (, born September 17, 1955) is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. She is a prominent female pioneer of Brazilian rock music. Career Marina Lima began composing songs at age 17, and first achieved major success with the 1984 ...

) and included the hits "Metade" and "Inverno". This was followed by '' Maritmo'' (a combination of the words ''marítimo'' (maritime) and ''ritmo'' (rhythm)), a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

intended as the first part of a trilogy having water as a main theme. At the turn of the millennium, Adriana experienced the peak of her career with the release of the album ''Público'' in 2000. Her first live album/

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

, ''Público'' was recorded in a ''voz-e-violão'' (voice and guitar) style, meaning there was no band, only the singer playing her acoustic guitar, an instrument which has followed her through her entire career. The album included a cover of the staple torch song ''Devolva-me'', made famous by the duo Leno & Lilian back in the 1960s. This album was followed by her first greatest hits compilation, ''Perfil'' (the success of this album prompted her record company to make it a series, releasing compilations of the same title by such artists as

Cássia Eller Cássia Rejane Eller (Portuguese: /ˈkasjɐ ʁeˈʒɐni ˈɛleʁ/) (December 10, 1962 – December 29, 2001) was a Brazilian singer and musician. She came to prominence in the early 1990s and performed a mix of rock and MPB. Eller released fiv ...

, Zélia Duncan and

Djavan Djavan Caetano Viana (; born 27 January 1949) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter. Early life and career Djavan was born in Maceió, Brazil to a white father of Dutch descent and a black mother. He later formed the group Luz, Som, Dimensão (LSD ...

). Another album of new material wouldn't be released until 2002, when the singer released "Cantada". In the meantime, Adriana toured Europe and Japan (as she has done many times since). After the release of that album, Adriana took on the persona of Adriana Partimpim, an alias the singer claims to have used as a child. Adriana Partimpim released her self-titled "debut" in 2004, an album of covers featuring essentially traditional

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

s, but which also included familiar pop songs made to resemble children's songs. Examples of such songs are the covers of

Paula Toller Paula Toller (born on August 23, 1962) is a Brazilian singer and songwriter. Toller is most known as the lead singer of Kid Abelha. In 1998, she released her self-titled first solo album, which was very well received. Her second solo album, title ...

's ''Oito Anos'' (a song Toller wrote for her own son, Gabriel) and Claudinho & Buchecha's ''Fico Assim Sem Você'', which became a hit on adult radios. A live CD/DVD combo of the show was also released the following year. Her most recent album, ''Maré'', was released in early 2008 and features a guest appearance by the singer's personal friend, Marisa Monte as well as a cover of

's song ''Três''. She toured Brazil to promote the record, as well as once again touring Europe, Japan and the United States. Adriana has chronicled her adventures on tour in the book ''Saga Lusa'' (Portuguese Saga), in which she shares her memoirs of the Portuguese leg of her most recent tour. The book was released on October 28 in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. On October 23, 2009, Adriana performed in front of an adoring crowd at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

, Quebec, Canada in a free performance presented by the Embassy of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Since 2015, Calcanhotto had joined Universidade de Coimbra as a university ambassador, acting as visiting lecturer on song composition courses and as an

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Adriana Calcanhotto's official website (in Portuguese)

"Musica Popular Brasileira e mais"

Something Has Changed In Brazil: An Interview with Adriana Calcanhotto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calcanhotto, Adriana 1965 births Living people Brazilian women composers 21st-century Brazilian women singers 21st-century Brazilian singers 20th-century Brazilian women singers 20th-century Brazilian singers Brazilian people of Italian descent Música Popular Brasileira singers Latin Grammy Award winners People from Porto Alegre Brazilian LGBT singers Latin music composers Latin music songwriters 21st-century Brazilian LGBT people Women in Latin music LGBT people in Latin music