Santo Amaro da Purificação (Brasil), 1942
By Adrana Veríssimo
Son of a civil servant and a housewife, the popular Dona Canô, Caetano Veloso showed interest in music, painting, and later cinema from a young age.
In 1959, a friend introduced him to the album Chega de saudade by João Gilberto, which had a profound impact on him: Caetano considers the Bahian guitarist responsible for his decision to pursue an artistic career. In the 1960s, in Salvador, he wrote film reviews for the Diário de Notícias, learned to play the guitar, and performed in bars alongside his sister, Maria Bethânia. In 1963, he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy at the Federal University of Bahia, where he met Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Tom Zé.
In 1965, he released his first single, featuring the songs “Cavaleiro” and “Samba em paz.” He moved to Rio de Janeiro to support Maria Bethânia, who was replacing Nara Leão in the show Opinião. During the 1960s, he participated in important popular music festivals and composed film soundtracks. In 1967, his first album, titled Domingo, was released alongside Gal Costa. That same year, at the III Festival da Música Popular Brasileira on TV Record, he presented the song “Alegria, alegria,” which placed fourth.
The following year, he participated in the Tropicália movement, considered avant-garde in Brazilian popular music. The album Tropicália ou panis et circensis, alongside Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Torquato Neto, Rogério Duprat, Capinan, and Nara Leão, represented the realization of Tropicalism.
In 1968, during the most repressive phase of the Brazilian military regime, his song “É proibido proibir” was booed and disqualified, provoking an indignant reaction from him. “You’re not understanding anything,” he said. In 1969, after a period of imprisonment for “disrespecting the national anthem and flag,” he went into political exile in London, where he composed songs like “London, London” and “Como dois e dois.” He returned to Brazil in 1972, performed several shows across the country, and also worked as a producer in the following years.
In 1976, Caetano, Gal, Gil, and Maria Bethânia formed the group Doces Bárbaros. The following year, he published his first book, Alegria, alegria, a collection of articles, manifestos, poems, and interviews with the poet Waly Salomão. In the 1980s, he continued recording and produced the albums Outras palavras, Cores, nomes, Uns, and Velô. Alongside Chico Buarque de Holanda, he hosted the television program Chico e Caetano in 1986, where they sang and brought in guests. In the 1990s, he released Tropicália 2 (1993) alongside Gilberto Gil, and in 1997, the book Vereda tropical. The album Livro (1998) won a Grammy in 2000 for Best MPB Album. In 2001, he appeared in Pedro Almodóvar’s film Talk to Her, singing the song “Cucurrucucú paloma.” In 2003, his performance of “Burn it blue,” alongside Mexican singer Lila Downs, representing the film Frida at the Oscars, marked the first time a Brazilian singer participated in the event. That same year, he won a Latin Grammy for Best Brazilian Popular Music Album for the CD Eu não peço desculpas, a collaborative work with Jorge Mautner.
On January 25, 2004, he performed at the corner of Ipiranga and São João avenues in São Paulo to celebrate the city’s 450th anniversary. That year, he released his first CD in English, A Foreign Sound, in which he interpreted “Come as You Are” by the American band Nirvana. The following year, he published a collection of essays and critiques written throughout his career in newspapers and magazines, titled O mundo não é chato, organized by poet Eucanaã Ferraz.
In 2007, an official discography of the artist was launched by Universal Music in celebration of his 40 years in the industry. In 2008, Caetano and singer Roberto Carlos held a joint tribute concert for Antônio Carlos Jobim and recorded the CD and DVD Roberto Carlos e Caetano Veloso e a música de Tom Jobim. Caetano released the albums Cê (2006), Obra em Progresso (2008), and Zii e Zie (2009). In 2011, he produced and composed all the songs for Gal Costa’s Domingo. In 2013, he won a Latin Grammy for Best Album of Composer for Abraçaço.
He was ranked the fourth-best Brazilian music artist and the eighth-greatest Brazilian singer of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. In 2015, Caetano went on tour in Brazil and abroad with Gilberto Gil, both celebrating 50 years of their careers with the show Dois amigos, um século de música.
