Sergio Santos Mendes was born in Niteroi, Brazil, February 11th, 1941. His father was a medical doctor. Mendes attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late-1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was taking off. Mendes played with Antonio Carlos Jobim (regarded as a mentor), and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil.
Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderly and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the United States in 1964 and recorded two albums under the Brasil ’65 group name with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records.
When sales were slow, he replaced his Brazilian born vocalist Wanda da Sah with the unique voice of Chicago native Lani Hall (who learned Mendes’ Portuguese material phonetically).
In 1966, Sergio Mendes and his group were signed to a record deal by Herb Alpert, whose enthusiastic response led to immediate success. Mixing Brazilian, jazz and American popular styles, Brasil ’66 became known for its fresh, innovative sound. While Mendes was the lively pianist, arranger, producer and musical director, it was American vocalist Lani Hall (who would later marry Herb Alpert) who gave the group the special touch that ensured their success on the pop music charts. Lani is equally comfortable singing in English, Spanish and Portuguese, although you’d never know it from the way she performs all of her songs with the ease of a native.
After Herb Alpert’s A&M label released the first Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 album, it ultimately went platinum based largely on the success of the single “Mais Que Nada” and the personal support of Alpert, with whom Mendes toured regularly.
The original Brasil ’66 lineup, as recorded on the first three A&M albums, consisted of Mendes on piano and keyboards, Lani Hall and Janis Hansen on vocals, Jose Soares on Latin percussion, Bob Matthews on bass and Joao Palma on drums, Tijuana Brass guitarist John Pisano played guitar starting with Equinox.
Starting with Fool on the Hill, the Brasil ’66 lineup would include Mendes, Lani Hall and vocalist Karen Phillips, with a completely new rhythm section consisting of Sebastiao Neto, Dom Um Romao, Rubens Bassini and Oscar Castro Neves. Stillness would be Lani’s final album with Brasil ’66, leaving to record her first solo project in 1972, Sun Down Lady.
Even though his early singles with Brasil ’66 (most notably Mas Que Nada) met with some success, Mendes reached mainstream prominence when he performed the Oscar nominated Burt Bacharach/Hal David song “The Look of Love” on the Academy Awards telecast in March 1968. Brasil ’66’s version of the song quickly shot into the top 10, eclipsing Dusty Springfield’s version from the soundtrack of the movie, and Mendes spent the rest of 1968 enjoying consecutive top 10 and top 20 hits with his follow-up singles, “The Fool on the Hill” and “Scarborough Fair.”
Although he continued to enjoy adult contemporary chart successes with Brasil ’66 through 1971, he would not experience the mainstream chart hits he enjoyed in 1968 until his comeback album in 1983 generated the biggest single of his career, “Never Gonna Let You Go.” However, from 1968 on, Mendes was one of the most popular Brazilian stars in the world, enjoying immense popularity worldwide and performing in venues as varied as stadium arenas and the White House, where he gave concerts for both President Johnson and President Nixon.
Mendes’ career in the United States slowed down in the mid-1970s, but he remained very popular in South America and Japan. His two albums with Bell Records in 1973 and 1974, followed by several for Elektra from 1975 on, found Mendes continuing to combine the best in American pop music and post-Bossa writers of his native Brazil, while forging new directions in soul with collaborators like Stevie Wonder, who wrote Mendes’ R&B-influenced minor hit, “The Real Thing.”
In 1983, he rejoined Alpert’s A&M records and enjoyed huge success with a self-titled album and several follow-up albums, all of which received considerable adult contemporary airplay with charting singles. By the time Mendes released his Grammy-winning Elektra album Brasileiro in 1992, he was one of the leading artists in the area of pop-inflected Brazilian jazz.
The late-1990s lounge music revival brought retrospection and respect to Mendes’ body of work, particularly the classic Brasil ’66 albums.
In 2006, Concord Records and Starbucks Hear Music co-released Timeless. Produced by and featuring will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Timeless is a wholly original blend of music. Will and Sergio brought in the Black Eyed Peas, one of hip-hop’s leading artists, and also recruited some of pop music’s biggest artists, each a Sergio fan, to contribute to various tracks, including Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, india.arie, Black Thought of The Roots, John Legend, Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, Jill Scott, and Q-Tip, among others.
Sergio described Timeless, recorded in Brazil and Los Angeles, as a “. . .wonderful marriage of rhythms, because it’s all African rhythms and haunting melodies. The same common denominator that brought the samba to Brazil and brought jazz to America.”
In 2020, Mendes released In the Key of Joy (Concord Records, 2020). The album combined Brazilian rhythms, jazz, pop and hip hop. Guests included Hermeto Pascoal, João Donato, Mendes’ wife and longtime singer, Gracinha Leporace, Guinga, Sheléa, Common, Joe Pizzulo, Cali y El Dandee, Buddy, and Sugar Joans.
The distribution of In the Key of Joy coincided with the release of the documentary on Mendes’ life by film director John Scheinfeld (Chasing Trane, Who Is Harry Nilsson?)
Discography:
Dance Moderno (Philips, 1960)
Cannonball’s Bossa Nova (Riverside/Capitol Records, 1962)
Você Ainda Não Ouviu Nada! (Philips, 1963)
The Swinger from Rio (Atlantic, 1964)
In Person at El Matador (Atlantic, 1965)
Brasil ’65 (Capitol, 1965)
The Great Arrival (Atlantic, 1966)
Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 (A&M, 1966)
Equinox (A&M, 1967)
Quiet Nights (Philips, 1967)
The Beat of Brazil (Atlantic, 1967)
Look Around (A&M, 1968)
Fool on the Hill (A&M, 1968)
Sergio Mendes’ Favorite Things (Atlantic, 1968)
Crystal Illusions (A&M, 1969)
Ye-Me-Lê (A&M, 1969)
Live at the Expo (A&M, 1970)
Stillness (A&M, 1970)
País Tropical (A&M, 1971)
Four Sider (A&M, 1972)
Primal Roots (A&M, 1972)
In Concert (A&M, 1973)
Love Music (Bell, 1973)
Vintage 74 (Bell, 1974)
Sérgio Mendes (Elektra, 1975)
Homecooking (Elektra, 1976)
Sergio Mendes and the New Brasil ’77 (Elektra, 1977)
Pelé (Atlantic, 1977)
Brasil ’88 (Elektra, 1978)
Alegria (WEA, 1979)
Magic Lady (Elektra, 1979)
Sérgio Mendes (A&M, 1983)
Confetti (A&M, 1984)
Brasil ’86 (A&M, 1986)
Arara (A&M, 1989)
Brasileiro (Elektra, 1992)
Oceano (Verve, 1996)
Timeless (Concord, 2006)
Encanto (Concord, 2008)
Bom Tempo (Concord, 2010)
Magic (Okeh, 2014)
In the Key of Joy (Concord Records, 2020)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.