Newton Ferreira de Mendonça (February 14, 1921 – November 22, 1960) was a musician, composer, and lyricist. He began as a pianist in 1950. Mendonça was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. In 1953 he started working with

Antônio Carlos Jobim Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered as one of the great exponents of Brazilian ...

, something for which he is best known. Mendonça went on to co-compose music and lyrics for

Desafinado "Desafinado" (a Portuguese word, usually rendered into English as "Out of Tune", or as "Off Key") is a 1959 bossa nova song and jazz standard composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim with lyrics (in Portuguese) by Newton Mendonça. Background "Des ...

, Meditação, and Samba de uma nota só. In 1959 he had his first heart attack, but his songs continued gaining attention. In 1960 his second heart attack proved fatal. All Music/ref>

References

Bibliography

* De Stefano, Gildo, ''Il popolo del

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

, La vicenda e i protagonisti della storia della musica popolare brasiliana'', Preface by Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Introduction by

Gianni Minà Gianni Minà (; 17 May 1938 – 27 March 2023) was an Italian journalist, writer, magazine editor, and television host. He collaborated with both Italian and International newspapers and magazines; produced hundreds of reports for RAI (''Radio ...

, RAI-ERI, Rome 2005, * De Stefano, Gildo, ''Saudade Bossa Nova: musiche, contaminazioni e ritmi del Brasile'', Preface by

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, econom ...

, Introduction by

, Logisma Editore,

Firenze Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

2017, Brazilian male songwriters Brazilian bossa nova pianists Brazilian songwriters Samba musicians 1927 births 1960 deaths 20th-century Brazilian pianists {{pianist-stub