Otto Maximiliano Pereira de Cordeiro Ferreira (born June 28, 1968), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

as Otto, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, drummer, and television actor and presenter, famous for being one of the founding members of the pioneering

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 fas ...

band

Mundo Livre S/A Mundo Livre S/A is a Brazilian mangue bit band, formed in 1984 in Recife, Pernambuco. It is also one of the founders of that musical style, which became popular in the 1990s. Fred Zero Quatro, the band's singer, was one of the authors of Carangu ...

, of which he served as its drummer from 1984 to 1996.

Early life and career

Otto was born in

Belo Jardim Belo Jardim (''Beautiful Garden'') a Brazilian municipality in the state of Pernambuco. It has an estimated population in 2020 of 76,687 and a total area of 647.7 km². It is located at 608 meters above the sea level and 182 km away fro ...

, Pernambuco, on June 28, 1968, and is of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and

Native Brazilian Indigenous peoples in Brazil ( pt, povos indígenas no Brasil) or Indigenous Brazilians ( pt, indígenas brasileiros, links=no) once comprised an estimated 2000 tribes and nations inhabiting what is now the country of Brazil, before European con ...

descent. During his early teens he moved to

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

, where he befriended

Chico Science 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 cultural movement. He died in a car accident in 1997 in Recife, Pernam ...

and

Fred 04 Fred 04 (born in Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Pernambuco, on July 11, 1965) is the leader, singer, guitarist and Cavaquinho player of Brazilian band Mundo Livre S/A. He is the co-author, along with DJ Renato L, of the Mangue Bit manifesto, "Carangu ...

; with the latter he would form

, one of the first

bands ever alongside Science's

Nação Zumbi Nação Zumbi (formerly Chico Science & Nação Zumbi) is a Brazilian band formed by Chico Science. They have been hailed as one of the most important groups to come out of the manguebeat movement in the 1990s. The musicians of the group continued ...

. Otto provided drums for Mundo Livre S/A's first two studio albums, until leaving the band in 1996 to pursue a solo career. In 1998 Otto released his first solo album, ''Samba pra Burro'', through independent record label Trama, which mixed traditional Brazilian genres such as ''

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...

'' and MPB with

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

and

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. Produced by Apollo 9 and counting with guest appearances by

Skowa Marco Antônio Gonçalves dos Santos (born December 13, 1955), better known as Skowa, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and musician. Biography Skowa was born in São Paulo, on December 13, 1955; his stage name is an allusion to the Portuguese- ...

Bebel Gilberto Isabel Buarque de Hollanda Gilberto de Oliveira (born May 12, 1966), known as Bebel Gilberto, is an American-born Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle is ...

, former Mundo Livre S/A bandmate Fred 04 and Erasto Vasconcelos (brother of

Naná Vasconcelos Juvenal de Holanda Vasconcelos, known as Naná Vasconcelos (2 August 1944 – 9 March 2016), was a Brazilian percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, notable for his work as a solo artist on over two dozen albums, and as a backing musician wi ...

), it received a good critical reception, and

Pro-Música Brasil Pro-Música Brasil (PMB), previously Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD) (English: Brazilian Association of Record Producers), is an official representative body of the record labels in the Brazilian phonographic market. Hi ...

chose it as the best album of 1998. The album catapulted Otto into nationwide acclaim, later leading him to open shows for bands such as

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...

in the same year, and in 1999 he played alongside

Tom Zé Antônio José Santana Martins (born 11 October 1936), known professionally as Tom Zé (), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of t ...

at the Heineken Concerts in

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 ...

. In 2000 a

remixed Remixed may refer to: *Remix, a piece of media altered from its original state *Remix album, an album collecting remixed songs *Remixed Records, a record label associated with Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden Albums * ''Remixed'' (Alicia Keys ...

version of ''Samba pra Burro'' was released, also through Trama, entitled ''Changez Tout''. Otto's subsequent album, ''Condom Black'', released in 2001, saw him advancing into a "more organic" sonority, in his words, but without abandoning the electronica influences. As with his previous album, ''Condom Black'' was also produced by Apollo 9. In the following year, he collaborated with

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

band Metrô on their third album, '' Déjà-Vu''; he provided additional vocals for the album's title track. Also in 2002 he made a contribution to the soundtrack of the critically acclaimed film ''

Mango Yellow ''Mango Yellow'' ( pt, Amarelo Manga) is a 2002 Brazilian drama film directed by Cláudio Assis. It stars Matheus Nachtergaele, Jonas Bloch, Dira Paes, Chico Díaz, and Leona Cavalli as working-class people who engage in amorous and social enco ...

'' (alongside Jorge dü Peixe of Nação Zumbi and Fred 04). The following year saw the release of his third studio album, ''Sem Gravidade''. in 2005 he made a guest appearance on the pilot episode of the TV series ''

Mandrake A mandrake is the root of a plant, historically derived either from plants of the genus '' Mandragora'' found in the Mediterranean region, or from other species, such as ''Bryonia alba'', the English mandrake, which have similar properties. The ...

'' as Orlandinho. In 2009 he released his fourth album, ''Certa Manhã Acordei de Sonhos Intranquilos'', his first not to come out through long-time label Trama. The album's title is an allusion to the opening line of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

's 1915 novella ''

The Metamorphosis ''Metamorphosis'' (german: Die Verwandlung) is a novella written by Franz Kafka which was first published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, ''Metamorphosis'' tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himsel ...

'', and counted with guest appearances by

Céu Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças, known professionally as Céu (; born 17 April 1980), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter whose first American album was released on the Six Degrees Records label in April 2007. Career life She was born in São Pa ...

and

Julieta Venegas Julieta Venegas Percevault (; born November 24, 1970) is an American-born Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and producer who sings pop-rock-indie in Spanish. She went on to join several bands including Mexican ska band Tijuana No!. Ven ...

, who later became one of Otto's major collaborators. His fifth album, ''The Moon 1111'', was released in 2012 through

Deckdisc Deckdisc is a Brazilian record company that was founded in 1998. History The Deckdisc officially began his career as a record label in 1998, with distribution from Universal Music Group, Universal Music. The first success was the series "O Som d ...

. Since 2011 he also serves as co-host of the TV program ''Minha Vida É a Minha Cara'', alongside actress Hermila Guedes, which is broadcast by FashionTV Brasil. In 2015 Otto announced on an interview to the newspaper ''

Folha de S.Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã c ...

'' that he began work on his sixth album, ''Ottomatopeia'', eventually released on July 28, 2017 through independent label Pomm_elo. It was elected the 14th best Brazilian album of 2017 by the Brazilian edition of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''.

Personal life

In 2001 Otto married actress

Alessandra Negrini Alessandra Vidal de Negreiros Negrini (born 29 August 1970) is a Brazilian actress. She is known for her roles in Brazilian telenovelas and films. She began her television career after starring in '' Olho no Olho'' (1993) playing the role of Cla ...

, having with her a daughter, Betina (born 2003). They divorced in 2008. In an interview, he has stated that his divorce from Negrini was a major inspiration for the writing process of ''Certa Manhã Acordei de Sonhos Intranquilos''. After a short-lived relationship with also actress

Mayana Moura Mayana Moura (born August 29, 1982) is a Brazilian actress and former model. Filmography Film Television Personal life She was in a relationship with English actor Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an Eng ...

, he eventually met Amanda Lira, his current partner. They lived in the ''

bairro A ''bairro'' () is a Portuguese language, Portuguese word for a Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter or a neighborhood or, sometimes, a district which is within a city or town. It is commonly used in Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, ...

'' of Vidigal, 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 ...

, until 2016; the couple now resides in

. He is a member of the Movimento Humanos Direitos.Humanos Direitos – Participantes

Discography

Solo

Studio albums

Remix albums

With Mundo Livre S/A

Collaborations

As a session member

; Metrô * 2002: '' Déjà-Vu'' (additional vocals in "Déjà-Vu")

References

External links

*
Otto
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otto (Singer) 1968 births Living people Brazilian male television actors Brazilian drummers Brazilian television presenters People from Pernambuco Brazilian rock musicians Música Popular Brasileira singers 20th-century Brazilian male singers 20th-century Brazilian singers 21st-century Brazilian male singers 21st-century Brazilian singers Brazilian people of Dutch descent Brazilian people of indigenous peoples descent 20th-century drummers 21st-century drummers Brazilian male singer-songwriters