Ney Matogrosso

With a countertenor range, Brazilian singer and guitarist Ney Matogrosso made his name with the group Secos & Molhados before embarking on a flourishing solo career. Born in Bela Vista in the state of Mato Grosso - from which he takes his stage name - on August 1, 1941, Ney de Sousa Pereira moved to São Paulo in 1971 and joined the glam rock band Secos & Molhados, with whom he recorded two successful albums during the tropicália wave. His soprano voice intrigued as much as his androgynous looks, make-up and stage costumes. His solo career, which began in 1975 with the album Água do Céu-Pássaro, culminated ten years later at the first Rock in Rio festival, where he performed on the first night in front of a huge audience, on the same bill as Queen and Iron Maiden. His albums, including Bandido (1976), Pecado (1977), Feitiço (1978) and Seu Tipo (1979), were a hit in Brazil, where he became one of the leading artists on the rock scene. His repertoire of covers and original songs later evolved towards Brazilian popular music (MPB), and he recorded a duo album with guitarist Raphael Rabello, À Flor da Pele (1990) and another with Aquarela Carioca, As Aperências Enganam (1993), between two appearances at the Montreux Festival, in 1983 alongside Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Bosco, and again in 1994. In 2002, Ney Matogrosso paid tribute to the singer and poet Cartola on an album followed by a tour. The same goes for Vagabundo (2004), recorded with the group Pedro Luis e a Parade. Celebrated as one of the most important Brazilian singer-songwriters of his generation, Ney Matogrosso received a Latin Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2014, and Rolling Stone magazine named him one of his country's top three singers. After the publication of his autobiography Vira-Lata de Raca in 2018 and a tour the following year, the Nu Com a Minha Música EP released in 2021 reaches No. 100, and the single "Mi Unicornio Azul " reaches No. 54. In 2025, he unveiled a new studio album entitled Canções Para Um Novo Mundo, featuring new compositions with a contemporary sound. The same year, he was played by Jesuíta Barbosa in the biopic Homem com H, presented in May, which was a huge success and inspired the theme for Carnival 2026 at the Imperatriz Leopoldinense samba school in Rio.

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