Sérgio Santos Mendes

Sérgio Santos Mendes was born in Niterói, across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. Classically trained at the local conservatory, he became captivated by American jazz and the emerging bossa nova movement in the late 1950s, performing alongside Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto in the clubs of Beco das Garrafas in Copacabana.

Moving to the United States following the 1964 Brazilian military coup, Mendes signed with Herb Alpert's A&M Records and formed Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66. Their self-titled debut album featured an infectious, polyrhythmic bossa-pop arrangement of Jorge Ben's "Mas que Nada," which became an international smash hit and the first Portuguese-language song to conquer the American Billboard pop charts. Over a six-decade career, Mendes recorded more than 35 albums, won three Grammy Awards, received an Oscar nomination for the song "Real in Rio" from the animated film Rio, and was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.