Personalidade
With a temperamental personality and crystalline voice, Elis Regina became a beloved national symbol of Brazil in the early 1960s when she was 21 years old. She sang with the clarity of glass in a naturally risqué tone that spilled forth with little effort, a reposed style shared byAstrud Gilberto. Though she sang much music unrelated to the bossa nova, her best-known albums include the legendary collaboration with Antonio Carlos Jobim,Elis & Tom, as well as this collection in thePersonalidadeseries. Oozing with samba rhythms and bossa nova sensuality,Elistakes listeners to the lounges of Brazil with such classics as "Aguas de Marco" and "Triste." Regina is intimately romantic and charismatically mysterious, and early into the album it's easy to see how an entire country could fall in love with her. She even escaped the political exile suffered by other artists during Brazil's rigid military rule in the 1960s. Tragically, though, the singer died from a cocaine overdose in 1982. This compilation serves as a lovely remembrance of the magnetic singer who set Brazilian hearts on fire.--Karen K. Hugg