Terceira Island
Luís Gil Mendes Bettencourt was born in 1956 in the town of Praia da Vitória, on Terceira Island of the Azores. He is one of ten children of Ezequiel Mendes Bettencourt and Aureolina da Cunha Gil de Ávila, who were both from musical backgrounds, Ezequiel being a professor of music. His younger brother is musician Nuno Bettencourt.