Leila Pinheiro

Leila Pinheiro is a renowned singer who established a name in bossa nova and then started to explore the Brazilian pop field. At ten, she began her music studies. Four years later, she abandoned music theory and started to have piano classes with Guilherme Coutinho. In 1978, she enrolled at the FEMP medicine course, abandoning it two years later, when she launched her career in the show Sinal de Partida, at Belém's Teatro da Paz. In the next year, she moved to Rio de Janeiro RJ and independently recorded her first album, Leila Pinheiro, which had special guests Tom Jobim, João Donato, Ivan Lins, Francis Hime, and Toninho Horta. The album was released two years later, at the Sala Funarte (Rio), with guest artist the composer/performer Sérgio Ricardo. In 1984, she performed with Zimbo Trio in Colombia (Bogota and Barranquilla). In 1985, she won third place and the Revelation Singer prizes at TV Globo's Festival dos Festivais with "Verde" (Eduardo Gudin/J. C. Costa Netto). Olho Nu (1986) was the first album after the contract with Polygram, in that year, and had Pat Metheny in a special appearance. Released simultaneously in Japan, the album yielded an invitation for the 17th Yamaha Festival as Brazil's representative, where she was appointed the best interpreter. In 1987 she was awarded with the Villa-Lobos trophy as the feminine revelation of the year by ABPD (National Association of Record Producers). She participated in the OTI Festival (Portugal). In 1988, she released her third album, Alma, and toured Brazil with Wagner Tiso in the Projeto Pixinguinha. In 1989, she was produced by Roberto Menescal and recorded and released a bossa nova album in Japan, while she launched Benção Bossa Nova in Brazil. One year later, the album reached the total of 200,000 sold copies,...