Cristiano de Melo Araújo (January 24, 1986 – June 24, 2015) was a Brazilian singer-songwriter.
Araújo was famous for the singles "Efeitos" (2011), "Você mudou" (2012), "Maus bocados" (2013), "Cê que sabe" and "É com ela que eu estou" (both in 2014). After his album ''Efeitos'' in 2011 and live álbum/ DVD ''Ao Vivo em Goiânia'' in 2012, he released his solo studio album ''Continua'' in 2013. In 2014, he released his third live album ''In The Cities – Ao Vivo em Cuiabá''. With most of his latest songs not making it onto a CD due to his sudden death. Araújo was signed to the Brazilian
Som Livre
Som Livre (Portuguese for "Free Sound") is a Brazilian record company that was founded in March 1969 in order to commercialize the soundtracks for TV Globo (its then parent company) soap operas and later expanded to recording studio albums. , it ...
record label.
Career
Beginnings
From early childhood in Goiás, Cristiano Araújo was influenced by
sertanejo. Cristiano came from a musically inclined family, containing four generations of musicians and singers. His parents João Reis and Zenaide Melo encouraged and supported him in his conquest for a musical career and bought him his first guitar at 6 years old. By age 9, he was putting on public performances and shows. At 10 years old, he was composing songs.
At age 13 he recorded his first EP and performed it during a popular Brazilian TV show, Festival do Faustão. His album was released and quickly shot up to the No. 6 spot in local "região centro oeste" (the midwest) charts. He was then offered the opportunity to include one of his songs in a popular "young talents" or "Jovens Talentos" CD, which would open chances for publicity all over the country. Again, Cristiano was still only a teenager at the time.
With sister Ana Cristina
In the years to come, Cristiano would appear on television shows and main events. At 17, he formed a duo with his twin sister Ana Cristina. For the next 6 years six years, they would record many songs and perform together. However, they failed to achieve much commercial success and were only truly known locally.
Solo career
In 2010, at age 24, Araujo decided to go solo. He had much bolder plans for his career. He began to have appearances and features with already, well-established sertanejo artists and duos in preparation for a live CD and DVD. In early 2011, he released a solo album ''Efeitos'' with appearances by
Gusttavo Lima
Nivaldo Batista Lima (born September 3, 1989), known by his stage name Gusttavo Lima (), is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and record producer. He is known in Brazil for his many hit songs, and gained international prominence through his 2011 s ...
,
Humberto & Ronaldo and by Jorge (from the famous duo
Jorge & Mateus
Jorge & Mateus is a musical duo and one of the most famous interpreters of sertanejo music. The duo is composed of Goiás, Brazil-based vocalists Jorge Alves Barcelos (born August 27, 1982) and Mateus Pedro Liduário de Oliveira (born July 15, ...
). With tons of great encouragement from Jorge (duo Jorge & Mateus), a long time friend, cristiano decided to follow up his newly founded popularity with a country wide tour. In the peak of the tour, he performed an average of 20 shows per month in front of large crowds and sold-out venues. Within a one-year (2011–12) he performed 117 shows.
Due to all of the newfound attention Cristiano was receiving, he ended up being invited to the culturally popular talk show ''
Domingão do Faustão
''Domingão do Faustão'' ( literally ''Big Fausto's Big Sunday'') was a Brazilian TV show aired every Sunday from 1989 to 2021. Produced by Rede Globo and hosted by Fausto Silva (also known as Faustão), it featured live music performances (usu ...
''. This opened up doors for huge popular, Brazilian appearances at places such as the Sertanejo Pop Festival 2012 held in São Paulo, followed by a live album and DVD ''Ao Vivo em Goiânia'' with collaborations from well-known acts like
Bruno e Marrone,
Fernando & Sorocaba,
Israel & Rodolffo and
João Reis
João Carlos Silva Reis (born 24 June 1992) is a Portuguese footballer who plays for Vizela as a defender.
Football career
On 27 July 2013, Reis made his professional debut with Farense in a 2013–14 Taça da Liga match against Santa Clara, ...
amongst others.
In 2013, he released his first studio album ''Continua''.
In 2014, he released his last DVD titled ''In The Cities'', this being held in Cuiabá (Mato Grosso). With international standards, the DVD has a more than 40 tons of equipment structure, bringing the very latest in technology. One of the big news revealed is an application launched exclusively – a partnership between the American CIA and Hit Music – and will provide a direct interaction with the audience. In the record of this megaespetáculo is the special participation of international artist
Ian Thomas, only 17 years old.
Death
Cristiano Araújo, 29, and his girlfriend, Allana Moraes, 19, died in the early morning of June 24, 2015 when the car they were riding in veered off the road and rolled over on the highway
BR-153
BR-153 is a major federal highway of Brazil, officially named the Transbrasiliana Highway. It also serves as part of the Belém–Brasília Highway in the stretch located between the cities of Wanderlândia, in the state of Tocantins, and A ...
at km 614, between
Morrinhos and
Pontalina
Pontalina is a municipality in south-central Goiás state, Brazil. One hundred and twenty-five kilometers from the state capital, Goiânia, it has become one of the most important retail clusters of lingerie in the state: Every year thousand of p ...
in Goiás. The accident occurred around 3:30 am, as he was returning from a concert in
Itumbiara
Itumbiara () is a municipality in Brazil, located in the southern part of the state of Goiás, on the border with Minas Gerais. It is a "sister city" to the Minas Gerais municipality of Araporã. The city lies south of the state capital, Goiâ ...
when his body guard/driver lost control of the car – 2015
Range Rover
The Land Rover Range Rover, generally shortened to Range Rover, is a Sport utility vehicle, 4x4 Luxury car, luxury SUV produced by Land Rover, a marque and sub-brand of Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors. The Range Rover line was launched ...
Sport HSE SD V6. There have been very few details released to the public as to what actually caused the driver to be distracted. However, alcohol or falling asleep were not the factors. Speed (179 km/h on a limited to 110 km/h road), welded rims and lack of safety were factors. The driver and Araujo's manager (who was in the passenger seat) were using seat belts and suffered only minor injuries.
Cristiano was sleeping upon Allana's lap and were in the back seat, without their seat belts, and were thrown out of the car causing him severe injuries and for her to be pronounced dead on scene (blunt cerebral trauma was the cause of Allana's death). Araujo had been stabilized in a municipal hospital, but he did not endure the transfer to a larger, more effective hospital – Hospital de Urgências de Goiânia (Hugo) – and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the trauma center.
The wake was on the same day of his passing and was public, so fans could pay respects and mourn. Both were buried the following day in the same cemetery.
Discography
Albums
;Studio albums
;Live albums
Singles
Featured in
Promotional songs
Other appearances
Tours
*2011–2012: Efeitos Tour
*2013–2014: Continua Tour
*2014: In The USA Tour
*2014: Europe Tour
*2014–2015: In The Cities Tour
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Araujo, Araujo
1986 births
2015 deaths
21st-century Brazilian male singers
21st-century Brazilian singers
Singers from Goiânia
Road incident deaths in Brazil
Sertanejo musicians
Brazilian twins
Brazilian Roman Catholics