Deodato Biography
Eumir Deodato Almeida, 21 June 1942, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a child, Deodato (which translates as "god given") taught himself to play keyboards and graduated to playing in local pop bands in his teens. He also worked as a session musician (keyboards, bass, guitar) before recording under his own name. His first success came in Brazil with his 1964 solo debut Inútil Paisagem, a recording which successfully fused jazz and bossa nova and placed Deodato alongside Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto at the forefront of the Brazilian music revolution of the 60s. He also inaugurated Os Catedráticos, recruiting many of Brazil's leading musicians and recording several albums.
In the mid-60s Deodato enjoyed a productive alliance with João Gilberto and his wife Astrud Gilberto, notably working on the score to the 1965 film Garota De Ipanema (based on the Gilberto's international hit "The Girl From Ipanema"). He also worked as an arranger with leading Brazilian composers/musicians such as Luiz Bonfá, Elis Regina and Marcos Valle. Deodato won a prize at the Rio Song Festival for his composition, "Spirit Of Summer", before emigrating to America in 1967. Based in California he quickly established himself as an in-demand arranger and session musician, working with notable US artists including Roberta Flack, Aretha Franklin, Bette Midler, Frank Sinatra and Stanley Turrentine, in addition to projects with fellow Brazilians Jobim, Bonfá, Astrud Gilberto, Walter Wanderley and a young Milton Nascimento. Much of Deodato's work came through his position as in-house arranger at Creed Taylor's New York-based CTI Records, and he later signed to the label as a solo artist. He enjoyed success with his first release, a funk adaptation of Richard Strauss' classical piece "Also Sprach Zarathustra", which had recently been used as the title music to Stanley Kubrick's movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Deodato's jazz version (originally intended for labelmate Bob James as his CTI debut) was an international smash, hitting number 2 on the US Top 100 and number 7 in the UK, and also collecting the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. After two albums for CTI (Prelude and 2) and with the label in difficulties (ironically caused by the success of "Also Sprach Zarathustra"), Deodato moved to MCA, recording a series of releases in the mid-70s including First Cuckoo and Very Together, the latter causing dancefloor activity thanks to a version of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn" theme. During this period Deodato also provided the scores for a number of movies, including Target Risk, The Black Pearl and The Onion Field. A subsequent move to Warner Brothers Records revived Deodato's career, with "Whistle Bump" and "Night Cruiser" afforded almost anthem status on the UK club scene. In 1979, he embarked on a highly successful production career, revitalizing the fortunes of Kool And The Gang with the singles "Ladies Night", "Too Hot" and "Celebration" in particular. Further production work followed for Chuck Mangione, Gwen Guthrie, the Dazz Band and former Dexys Midnight Runners frontman Kevin Rowland. After one further solo outing for Warners in 1984 Deodato switched to Atlantic Records, recording Somewhere Out There in 1989, his last solo album to date. His arranging, production and guest musician credits during the 90s and 00s included projects with Björk, Carlinhos Brown, Titãs, Ann Hampton Callaway, Electric J, Damian Saez and Lisa Ono. In 1999, he provided the score for Bruno Barreto's film Bossa Nova.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
|
