Eumir Deodato is a Brazilian funk artist and pop producer. His successes as an original artist (keyboards) occurred mainly in the 1970s. Since then, he has produced acts like Kool and the Gang.

Brazil

Deodato was born on 22 June 1943 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, of Italian and Portuguese parents. He is a musical autodidact, starting with the accordion at age 12 but rapidly learning instrumental and orchestral skills that culminated in his first recording session at age 17. Originally working as pianist and arranger in the Rio bossa nova scene, he rapidly outgrew this and, along with many other Brazilian musicians during the military dictatorship in their country, moved to New York, working with composer Luis Bonfa and later with producer Creed Taylor as an arranger. Additionally, he became keyboardist in Taylor's expanding group of backing artists.

Recording career

His first USA album Prelude, released in 1973, was of a big band Latin jazz style that immediately attracted a wide audience. His funky version of Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and went No. 2 in the pop charts in the US and No. 7 in the UK.

His second album Deodato 2 however, despite being of the same style and quality, failed to meet sales expectations, and practically lead to the demise of the record label, Creed Taylor Inc. (CTI). He continued recording until the late 1980s on the Kenya label, but never reached the level of his early successes.

Producer

Deodato has worked as a producer since the 1970s, working with Kool and the Gang and Björk (amongst others). In all, he has produced 500 albums, 15 of which have reached platinum, in addition to scoring a number of films.

Discography

• Inútil Paisagem (1964)
• Percepção (1972)
• Prelude (1973)
• Deodato 2 (1973)
• Whirlwinds (1974)
• Deodato/Airto in Corcert (1974)
• Artistry (1974)
• First Cuckoo (1975)
• Very Together (1976)
• Love Island (1978)
• Knights of Fantasy (1979)
• Night Cruiser (1980)
• Happy Hour (1982)
• Motion (1985)
• Somewhere Out There (1989)

Sources

• Deodato 2 re-release sleeve text

External links

• Deodato's official site