LeLeo
Maravilhas.
AJXCD198.
Release date 30th June.
Leonardo, “Leleo” for short. He became known as Leleo because
his school bus driver nicknamed him so when he was 2 years old, leh-leh-oh.
His father Mr. Stelio Teixeira, a famous Brazilian painter, worked restoring
works of art and his mother Mrs. Anita Teixeira, is a musicologist and housewife.
Leleo's parents brought up him and brother Marcus as a typically middle class
urban family, in a the glamorous Rio seaside suburb called Copacabana. This
beach place influenced many of Leleo’s compositions and illustrates
the beauty and the chaos of what some may call "Manhattan on Sea”.
Leleo had big exposure to the songs of The Beatles through his mother, a great
fan, a little bit later he bought his first guitar from a pawn shop in one
of the many crowded streets in Copacabana. From then on Leleo and guitar became
inseparable and he grew up playing in school festivals, many parties, friends’
discos and sound systems.
In 1988 Leleo started a very successful Brazilian band called Banda Bel. They
released two albums, the first, “O Rei do Rio”, in 1992 through
a label called Titanus and the second called “Sambadrome” came
out in 1994 and topped the Brazilian charts with a song about the football
player Romario. The year 1994, the year of Romario playing in the Brazilian
World Cup squad, Leleo’s Banda Bel had a mega hit, number one in fact.
The song immediately became a football anthem, and now it serves as sound
track for the images of skillful Brazilian football players and their devoted
supporters. Banda Bel toured Brazil, the Far East and USA and ended in1995.
During this period Leleo also composed a song called "Rosemary Margarida"
for the film called " DIAS MELHORES VIRÃO" by Carlos Diegues,
a very influential and important Brazilian movie director.
Leleo met the the legendary Ivo Meirelles from Mangueira in 1991, and was
invited to join Ivo's newly formed band soon after the first meeting. Leleo
played guitar on Ivo’s album called “Desafio da Navalha”
and this came out on EMI Brazil in 1992.
In November of 1995 Leleo started working for Warner Brazil in the A&R
position and left in 1998 to form his own company with partners David Villafort
and Marc Rainier.
They had their own studio where they produced everything from movie soundtracks
to pop and electronic music. Among many things they produced was the world
famous documentary “2000 Nordestes”. In 1996 Leleo produced the
soundtrack for the movie “Como ser solteiro”, this was another
great hit on Natasha Records. The translation is “A Bachelor in Rio”,
the song with the same title, and yes, he did it again… The song is
the most requested on Brazilian radio stations to this day, especially during
summer time; radio listeners just can’t get enough.
Leleo also produced a recorded in Portugal with a singer called Marta Dias,
the album called “Toxidade” came out on Farol Musica. On returning
to Brazil in 2003, Leleo worked with Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, Marcelo
D2 and others. In 2004 Leleo started a partnership with Bernardo Vilhena,
famous Brazilian pop poet and lyricist, together they developed the album
“Maravilhas” soon to be released in the UK on Acid Jazz.
Now Leleo is a singer, composer and producer with his own very definite contemporary
sound and yet it evokes that happy flavour found in the 1970s style of people
like Jorge Benjor and Sergio Mendes. Acid jazz meets new bossa samba swing.
They call it “Swing Bossa”.
Leleo’s band name, "Maravilhas", also inspired the album's
title. The band is a group of talented friends: Nara Gil, Laufer, Ricardo
Imperatore and Roger Negão.
We can’t stop playing it; we carry on tapping our toes and here comes
that dance feeling again. Happy tunes from a happy place. If it is not Copacabana,
Rio...it must be somewhere inside Leleo’s world.