The Best of ROBERTO CARLOS (The King of Brazilian music) by Virginiana
Roberto Carlos Braga nasceu em Cachoeiro do Itapemirim (ES), em 19 de abril de 1941. Filho caçula de um relojoeiro, Robertino, e de uma costureira, Laura, começa a estudar canto aos quatro anos e piano aos oito, no conservatório de Cachoeiro. Antes disso, porém, um acontecimento na manhã de 29 de junho de 1947 marcaria profundamente o menino Zunga (seu apelido de infância).
Era dia de São Pedro, padroeiro da cidade, e Roberto assistia às comemorações quando foi atingido por uma locomotiva, em marcha à ré. Como conseqüência, perdeu parte da perna direita. Roberto encontra na música e no canto seus principais refúgios. O compositor Ronaldo Bôscoli, que produziu os shows de RC por mais de vinte anos, relata que a música 'Traumas' conta a dor que sentiu ao sofrer o acidente.
Aos 9, Roberto já chamava a atenção na rádio local imitando o cantor Bob Nelson, seu primeiro ídolo, um artista brasileiro que vestia-se de caubói e cantava músicas 'country' em português. Não demorou muito para o menino ganhar um programa próprio no matinal infantil de Jair Teixeira. Em pouco tempo, o sonho da mãe em vê-lo médico foi deixado de lado.
Aos 12 muda-se para Niterói com a mãe e os dois irmãos. Com a vinda do pai e da irmã, muda-se para o Rio de Janeiro. Lá, faz amizades com outros rapazes que gostavam de música, especialmente o rock'n'roll que vinha dos Estados Unidos.
Em 1957, conhece Sebastião (Tim) Maia através de um colega de escola e, junto com ele e outros amigos, forma o conjunto Os Sputniks. No ano seguinte já era integrante do The Snakes, ao lado de Erasmo (Carlos) Esteves, muito conhecido por colecionar tudo sobre Elvis Presley e o rock. A turma, batizada de Turma do Matoso, que contava ainda com a presença de Jorge ''Babulino'' Bem e Wilson Simonal, costumava se reunir na esquina das Ruas Matoso e Hadock Lobo para conversar sobre garotas, aprontar pequenas estrepolias e, claro, trocar experiências sobre a grande novidade sonora do momento.
Nessa época, estourava a era do rock. Com um ritmo alucinante e instrumentos tocados bem altos. O compacto contendo ''Rock around the Clock'' com Bill Halley e Seus Cometas, é sucesso nas lojas de discos de todo o mundo. Logo em seguida, vem o sucesso de Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Gene Vincent e Chuck Berry. No Brasil, Celly Campello estoura nas rádios com ''Estúpido Cupido''. Surgem programas de rádio e TV voltados exclusivamente para o rock. Os jovens, finalmente, tinham a sua própria música.
Roberto Carlos is a Brasilien singer, who has achieved a great deal of success and recognition in his 50 year old career. Most of his songs are written in partnership with his friend, the singer and songwriter Erasmo Carlos. Roberto Carlos has sold over 100 million albums around the world.
At age six, Roberto Carlos was involved in a train accident, resulting in the amputation of part of his left leg, and the subsequent use of a prosthesis right below his knee. Influenced by his idol, Elvis Presley and the 1950s rock revolution, he rose to stardom as the main figure of the 60s musical movement known as Jovem Guarda (Young guard, in opposition to the 'old guard' of Brazilian music, although the name "Jovem Guarda" is a phrase became from Russian Lenin about the new concept of youths of Russian Revolution, created by Paulo Machado de Carvalho), which was the first manifestation of the Brazilian pop rock movement. Since then, he has been called 'O Rei' (the King), a la Elvis and Pelé.
When his first single and first LP (Louco por você, 1961) were commercial failures, for a moment he was in danger of being fired from CBS in favor of Sergio Murilo, the first successful rock singer in Brazil. Murilo was then fired for colliding with musical director Evandro Ribeiro over repertoire and payment, opening up space for Roberto Carlos.
In 1966 the single 'Quero que Vá Tudo pro Inferno' topped the charts in Brazil, beating The Beatles' Yesterday
During the 1960s, he also started in a few motion pictures directed by Roberto Farias, many of them heavily inspired by the Beatles movies. Later, he moved towards a more serious, adult contemporary approach to singing, whilst consistently continuing to score hits throughout the 70s and 80s, in his country, throughout Latin America, Portugal, Spain and Italy. He remained active through the 90s and beyond, focusing on romantic songs. Every year, Roberto Carlos hosts a holiday special singing his greatest hits along with special guests, which has become a tradition in Brazilian television.
In the 1980s, Roberto Carlos also started to record in English and French (he had already recorded albums in Spanish, Italian, and, naturally, Portuguese), having won the Globo de Cristal trophy, awarded by CBS to Brazilian artists who sell more than five million copies outside Brazil. At the same time, his albums continued to break records in his country. "Caminhoneiro" (1984) was aired 3,000 times in a single day, another record soon beaten by his own "Verde e Amarelo" (1985), with 3,500 spins. In 1986, he had success at Radio City Music Hall (New York, NY) and, two years later, won the Grammy as the Best Latin American Pop singer. In 1989, his Sonrie reached first place on Billboard's Latin chart.
In 1989, Roberto Carlos became one of the only Brazilians ever to win a Grammy Award in the category of Best Latin Pop Album with Roberto Carlos / Tolo.
In the mid'90s, with the retro Jovem Guarda wave, Roberto Carlos, who was worn out among the younger generations who had only known his romantic and sentimental hits directed at a middleaged audience, had his importance recuperated by young rockers such as Cássia Eller, Chico Science e Nação Zumbi, Barão Vermelho, and Skank, who recorded Rei, a tribute to him with his old Jovem Guarda hits.
In 1998, his second wife, Maria Rita, discovered she had cancer (she would die in 1999), which shattered his peace of mind [footnote needed.] After one year of reclusion, Roberto Carlos returned to recording and performing. In 2001, he broke his contract with Sony (exCBS), the recording company through which he had released a vast majority of his albums, due to commercial reasons [footnote needed] related to his wife's demise. However, in a 2008 interview, Roberto Carlos stated that he has no intention of retiring from the music industry anytime soon. He is currently working on an album that is set to be released at the end of 2008.
