Francisco de Assis França (March 13, 1966 – February 2, 1997), better known as Chico Science, was a Brazilian singer and composer and one of the founders of the

manguebeat The mangue bit or manguebeat movement is a cultural movement created circa 1991 in the city of Recife in Northeast Brazil in reaction to the cultural and economic stagnation of the city. The movement largely focuses on music, but it has its own fas ...

cultural movement. He died in a car accident in 1997 in Recife, Pernambuco, at the age of 30.

Biography

Francisco de Assis França was born in the

Rio Doce The Doce River (literally the "sweet river"; pt, Rio Doce ) is a river in southeast Brazil with a length of . The river basin is economically important. In 2015 the collapse of a dam released highly contaminated water from mining into the river ...

neighbourhood of

Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Recife metropolitan area, Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state capi ...

, Pernambuco, in Brazil's Northeast Region. As a little boy he would sell crabs that he caught himself in the city's mangrove swamps. He became the lead singer and major creative driving force of the groundbreaking

Mangue Bit The mangue bit or manguebeat movement is a cultural movement created circa 1991 in the city of Recife in Northeast Brazil in reaction to the cultural and economic stagnation of the city. The movement largely focuses on music, but it has its own f ...

band called Chico Science & Nação Zumbi (CSNZ). Influenced by such musicians as

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Fur ...

and Kurtis Blow, their music cleverly fused rock,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

, and hip hop with maracatu and other traditional rhythms of Brazil's Northeast. World music critics found his music "original and distinctive of his region." Chico had a powerful stage presence that was compared by some to that of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

. Around 1991, Chico Science, along with singer Fred 04 of the band Mundo Livre S/A, founded the

cultural movement in response to dire economic and cultural stagnation in Recife and Olinda. CSNZ made their US debut at New York's Central Park

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in 1995, opening for Gilberto Gil, with whom he collaborated during the encore. While in NY, they also performed additional shows at CBGB's, SOB's and at Bryant Park as part of the JVC Jazz Festival, on a bill with the

Ohio Players Ohio Players is an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire (Ohio Players song), Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of t ...

. Chico Science & Nação Zumbi toured several times in Europe and brought massive attention to the new generation of Brazilian artists in the 1990s. With only two full albums released during his lifetime, 'Da Lama Ao Caos' ('From Mud To Chaos) and 'Afrociberdelia', his influence and vision became the foundation to a whole new generation of musicians in Brazil. At the time of his death, '' The New York Times'' said he was "widely hailed as the future of Brazilian music." The Governor of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco declared three days of mourning. In 1996, Chico Science contributed ''Maracatu Atômico'' along with Nação Zumbi to the AIDS-Benefit Album Red Hot + Rio produced by the

Red Hot Organization Red Hot Organization (RHO) is a not-for-profit, 501(c) 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilati ...

. Nação Zumbi have continued to record and tour internationally after Chico's death.

Death

Chico Science died in a car accident on February 2, 1997. He lost control of his

Fiat Uno The Fiat Uno is a supermini manufactured and marketed by Fiat. Launched in 1983, the Uno was produced over a single generation (with an intermediate facelift, 1989) in three and five-door hatchback body styles until 1995 in Europe — and un ...

and hit a side light post after another car cut him off. He was rescued alive but he did not survive his injuries. He was buried on February 3 in Cemitério de Santo Amaro located in Recife. 10 years after his death, his family was compensated by

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

due to a failure in the seatbelt that could have saved his life.

Legacy

In 2008, Rolling Stone Brasil ranked Chico Science as the 16th greatest Brazilian artist in their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time in Brazilian music

Discography

*1994: '' Da lama ao caos'' *1996: ''Afrociberdelia'' *1998: ''CSNZ'' (posthumous)

References

Sneed, P. M. (2019). The Coexistentialism of Chico Science and Brazil's Manguebeat. Latin American Research Review, 54(3), 651–664. DOI: http://doi.org/10.25222/larr.451

External links

Channel Chico ScienceMemorial Chico Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Science, Chico 1966 births 1997 deaths Brazilian rock musicians People from Olinda Road incident deaths in Brazil 20th-century Brazilian male singers 20th-century Brazilian singers