Maria Gadú (born Mayra Corrêa Aygadoux, 4 December 1986) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist. She has been nominated twice for a Latin Grammy Award. She released her first album in 2009, self-titled Maria Gadú. Her single " Shimbalaiê" became a number one hit in Italy during summer 2011, staying atop the

FIMI The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when major corporate labels left the previously exist ...

chart for five straight weeks.

Biography

She started playing music as a child after having learned the basics of reading musical notation. Seven years later she began to record songs on cassette tapes. Her real musical training begins at the age of thirteen, when she began to give concerts in the bars of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, playing music by

Adoniran Barbosa Adoniran Barbosa, artistic name of João Rubinato (6 August 1910 – 23 November 1982), was a noted Brazilian São Paulo style samba singer and composer. Biography Early years João Rubinato was the seventh child of Francesco (Fernando) Rubina ...

Marisa Monte Marisa de Azevedo Monte (Brazilian Portuguese: /maˈɾizɐ dʒi azeˈvedu ˈmõtʃi/) (born 1 July 1967) is a Brazilian singer, composer, instrumentalist, and producer of Brazilian popular music and samba. As of 2011, she had sold 10 milli ...

and

Chico Buarque Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, ...

. In 2008 she moved to

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 ...

and began playing in bars, and she attracted the attention of famous musicians such as

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encomp ...

Milton Nascimento Milton Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has toured across the world. Nascimento has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his alb ...

João Donato João Donato de Oliveira Neto is a Brazilian jazz and bossa nova pianist from Brazil. He first worked with Altamiro Carrilho and went on to perform with Antonio Carlos Jobim and Astrud Gilberto. Career A professional at the age of 15, Donato pla ...

among others. Maria Gadu gained renown playing "

Ne me quitte pas "Ne me quitte pas" (''"Don't leave me"'') is a 1959 song by Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel. It has been covered in the original French by many artists and has also been translated into and performed in many other languages. A well-known a ...

" by

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

for

Jayme Monjardim Jayme Monjardim Matarazzo (São Paulo, São Paulo, May 19, 1956) is a Brazilian TV and film director. He is the only child of André Matarazzo Filho and Maysa Matarazzo. He is the former husband of actress Ingra Liberato, divorced without issue ...

, who was in preproduction of the television series '' Maysa: Quando Fala o Coração'' (''Maysa – when the heart sings'').

Maysa Matarazzo Maysa Figueira Monjardim (June 6, 1936 – January 22, 1977), better known as Maysa Matarazzo, was a Brazilian singer-songwriter, performer and actress. She is also associated with Bossa nova music but is widely known as a torch song (''fossa' ...

, singer and mother of the director, had been very successful in the 1950s and 1960s singing this song, among others. Gadú's version was soon included in the soundtrack of the series that would premiere in January 2009. Gadú also had a small acting part in the series. As 2009 began, Maria Gadú prepared her first album for the

Som Livre Som Livre (Portuguese for "''Free Sound''") is a Brazilian record company that was founded in 1969 in order to commercialize its soap opera soundtracks. It later expanded to recording studio albums. Today, Som Livre is Brazil's largest domestic l ...

sublabel Slap. She currently sings "Blue Velvet" with

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

on his cd ''

Viva Duets ''Viva Duets'' is a studio album by Tony Bennett, released in October 2012. The album is sung in English, Spanish and Portuguese; and features Latin American singers. Album's adaptations were written by Andres Castro, Edgar Barrera, Miguel Bosé, ...

.'' In 2015, her album ''Guelã'' was nominated for the 16th Latin Grammy Awards in the Best MPB Album category.

Discography

Albums

Video albums

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadu, Maria 1986 births Living people Lesbian musicians Música Popular Brasileira singers Brazilian people of French descent Brazilian women guitarists Brazilian LGBT singers Singers from São Paulo Latin music songwriters 21st-century Brazilian women singers 21st-century Brazilian singers 21st-century guitarists Brazilian women singer-songwriters 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Women in Latin music LGBT people in Latin music 21st-century women guitarists