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| Eumir Deodato |
| Born on June 21, 1942 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from Italian and Portuguese origin, Eumir got his start by playing the accordion at age 12. Shortly thereafter, he started studying piano as well as orchestration, arranging and conducting. Strictly self-taught, he immersed himself in theory books while spending countless evenings sitting behind orchestras and carefully observing how each part was played. His first break came at age 17 when he arranged and conducted his first recording session for a 28-piece orchestra. It wasn't long before Deodato became one of the most active and respected arrangers and pianists in Rio's busy music scene, recording for such artists as Milton Nascimento, Marcos Valle, Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim. In 1968, Deodato moved to New York and began working with Luiz Bonfa, the legendary composer of Black Orpheus, while also doing extensive studio work for Astrud Gilberto, Walter Wanderley, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Marcos Valle and many other Brazilian artists who were living in the Big Apple at the time. When writing the arrangements for Astrud Gilberto's "Beach Samba," he became acquainted with producer Creed Taylor, who hired him to arrange for other CTI artists like Wes Montgomery, Stanley Turrentine, George Benson, Paul Desmond and Tom Jobim. His reputation in the fields of pop and black music was strengthened by his arrangement work for Frank Sinatra ("Sinatra & Co."), Roberta Flack ("Killing Me Softly," "Chapter Two," "Quiet Fire") and Aretha Franklin ("Let Me In Your Life"). Following a performance at the Hollywood Bowl with the CTI All-Stars Band in 1972, Deodato started recording his debut record. His debut appearance as an artist, billed as "2001 Space Concert," was held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1973. He found success with his first release, an adaptation of Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra," which had recently been used as the title music to Stanley Kubrick's film "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 U.S. Top 100 and number 7 in the U.K., and also collecting him the 1973 Grammy award for "Best Pop Instrumental Performance." After two albums for CTI ("Prelude" and "Deodato 2") and with the label in difficulties (ironically caused by the success of "Also Sprach Zarathustra"), Deodato moved to MCA, recording "First Cuckoo," "Whirlwinds" and "Very Together," the latter causing dancefloor activity thanks to a 1976 import 12" single of "Peter Gunn." A move to Warner Brothers reignited his career in 1978. The first album released was "Love Island" and spawned his first American club hit "Whistle Bump." The promo-only 12" single raced up the charts and while it contained bump in the title the instrumental track was not a typical "bump disco" song. His next release was 1979's "Knights Of Fantasy." The album spawned another hit 12" single with "Shazam." The delicious album also featured a stunning medley entitled "Bachmania," that included a truncated version of "Whistle Bump" in it. By 1980 after seven years of world-wide touring (including Australia, Japan, Canada, South America, Europe) and eight coast-to-coast tours of the States, Deodato decided to concentrate on studio work once again. First came his own album "Night Cruiser." The title track 12" single would be another club smash for the talented Brazilian. His outside work had begun the previous year with his stunning production of Kool & The Gang. Single handedly reviving their career with the smash "Ladies' Night" he also produced their #-1 chart topper "Celebration" and when the dust had settled he had earned three multi-platinum albums for his work with Kool & The Gang. Not content to produce just one artist he branched out and produced or arranged for Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Franks, Gwen Guthrie, Chuck Mangione, The Breakfast Club, The Dazz Band, One Way, Con-Funk-Shun, Kleeer, Pretty Poison, Kevin Rowland (of Dexy's Midnight Runners), White Lion and Brenda K. Starr, for whom he produced the pop hit "I Still Believe" in 1987. In 1982 he released his next album, "Happy Hour." The 12" single of "Happy Hour" and it's follow-up "Keep On Movin' " once again made him a club floor favorite. The album also featured a stunning version of "Tears Of A Clown" with Candi Staton on vocals. He scored his final club smash in 1984 with "S.O.S. (Fire In The Sky)" from the album "Motion." By now his studio work was taking precedent over his own solo career. His final solo album was1989's "Somewhere Out There" on Atlantic Records. In the 1990's, Deodato continued to be a vital force on the pop scene through his work with Icelandic singer Bjork. In addition to arranging her last three albums: 1995's "Post," 1996's "Telegram" and 1997's "Homogenic," Deodato produced a highly praised acoustic version of Bjork's "Isobel," sub-titled Deodato Mix, which became a club scene favorite. He has also produced material for French singer Clementine (also touring Japan with her as a special guest in 1994), arranged and produced a top 10 single for Brazilian singer Gal Costa (1996) and has performed as guest conductor with Bjork both in Brazil (1996), and in the States at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts at Downing Stadium (1997). In 1998, Deodato arranged for Brazilian pop acts Titans ("Vol. II," with sales over 500,000 copies) and Carlinhos Brown ("Omelete Man") as well as for the latest album by pop-rock band Penelope Charmosa (released in 1999). He was also special guest on a project by Japanese pop star Akemi Kakihara, recorded in London during the summer of 1998. In 1999, he scored "Bossa Nova," a Bruno Barreto film starring Amy Irving, and the following year produced the CD of that score for Verve Records. His most recent projects including production work for French rock singer Damien Saez, Brazilian-Japanese singer Lisa Ono and for jazz singer Ann Hampton Callaway. In November 2001, Deodato participated in a benefit concert in New York City where he played only 1 song ("Also Sprach Zarathustra: 2001"). The reaction was so fantastic he got encouraged to go back doing concerts. By 2002 he lined up a few selected presentations, starting with a concert at the Vienna Opera House, as part of the Vienna Summer Jazz Festival. That was followed by Villach (Austria), Pori (Finland), The Hague (North Sea Jazz Festival), and many others that followed, like Capetown (South Africa), Rome and Rimini (Italy), Amenia, NY (World Peace Organization), Antigua, Guatemala etc. Meanwhile, in 2002 he worked with Milton Nascimento in Rio de Janeiro, which generated a Latin Grammy for the song "Tristesse" as best Brazilian song of the year, then miscellaneous work with different artists, including Barbara Mendes, Ana Carolina, Fernanda Abreu and more recently, K.D. Lang for her new record eleased in the spring of 2004. At this moment, Deodato is working on string orchestra arrangements for the 2004 K.D. Lang World Tour. There will be more concerts in the horizon as well as more arranging work including a possible new record. Our deepest respect and appreciation for the genius that is known the world over as just.....Deodato. |
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