The Most Famous

MUSICIANS from Brazil

This page contains a list of the greatest Brazilian Musicians. The pantheon dataset contains 3,175 Musicians, 32 of which were born in Brazil. This makes Brazil the birth place of the 14th most number of Musicians behind Australia, and Ukraine.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Brazilian Musicians of all time. This list of famous Brazilian Musicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Brazilian Musicians.

1. Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927 - 1994)

With an HPI of 67.67, Antônio Carlos Jobim is the most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 59 different languages on wikipedia.

Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (Portuguese pronunciation: [tõ ʒoˈbĩ] ), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered as one of the great exponents of Brazilian music, Jobim merged samba with cool jazz in the 1960s to create bossa nova, with worldwide success. As a result, he is regarded as one of the fathers of bossa nova, and as one of the most-celebrated songwriters of the 20th century. Jobim was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists internationally since the early 1960s. In 1965, the album Getz/Gilberto was the first jazz record to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It also won Best Jazz Instrumental Album – Individual or Group and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The album's single "Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema)", composed by Jobim, has become one of the most recorded songs of all time, and the album won the Record of the Year. Jobim composed many songs that are now included in jazz and pop standard repertoires. "Garota de Ipanema" has been recorded over 240 times by other artists. His 1967 album with Frank Sinatra, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim, was nominated for Album of the Year in 1968.

2. João Gilberto (1931 - 2019)

With an HPI of 65.61, João Gilberto is the 2nd most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 49 different languages.

João Gilberto (born João Gilberto do Prado Pereira de Oliveira – Portuguese: [ʒuˈɐ̃w ʒiwˈbɛʁtu]; 10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019) was a Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer who was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world, he was often called the "father of bossa nova"; in his native Brazil, he was referred to as "O Mito" ("The Legend"). In 1965, the album Getz/Gilberto was the first jazz record to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It also won Best Jazz Instrumental Album – Individual or Group and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Gilberto's Amoroso was nominated for a Grammy in 1978 in the category Best Jazz Vocal Performance. In 2001 he won in the Best World Music Album category with João voz e violão.

3. Caetano Veloso (b. 1942)

With an HPI of 63.76, Caetano Veloso is the 3rd most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (Portuguese pronunciation: [kajˈtɐ̃nu emɐnuˈɛw viˈɐ̃nɐ ˈtɛliz veˈlozu]; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Brazilian military dictatorship that took power in 1964. He has remained a constant creative influence and best-selling performing artist and composer ever since. Veloso has won nine Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards. On 14 November, 2012, Veloso was honored as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year. Veloso was one of seven children born into the family of José Telles Veloso (commonly known as Seu Zeca), a government official, and Claudionor Viana Telles Veloso (known as Dona Canô). He was born in the city of Santo Amaro da Purificação, in Bahia, a state in northeastern Brazil, but moved to Salvador, the state capital, as a college student in the mid-1960s. Soon after that, Veloso won a music contest and was signed to his first label. He became one of the originators of Tropicália with several like-minded musicians and artists—including his sister Maria Bethânia—in the same period. However, the Brazilian military dictatorship viewed Veloso's music and political action as threatening, and he was arrested, along with fellow musician Gilberto Gil, in 1969. The two eventually were exiled from Brazil and went to London where they lived for two years. In 1972, Veloso moved back to his home country and once again began recording and performing. He later became popular outside Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s.

4. Gilberto Gil (b. 1942)

With an HPI of 62.81, Gilberto Gil is the 4th most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (Portuguese: [ʒiwˈbɛʁtu ˈʒiw]; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Gil's musical style incorporates an eclectic range of influences, including rock, Brazilian genres including samba, African music, and reggae. Gil started to play music as a child and was a teenager when he joined his first band. He began his career as a bossa nova musician and grew to write songs that reflected a focus on political awareness and social activism. He was a key figure in the música popular brasileira and tropicália movements of the 1960s, alongside artists such as longtime collaborator Caetano Veloso. The Brazilian military regime that took power in 1964 saw both Gil and Veloso as a threat, and the two were held for nine months in 1969 before they were told to leave the country. Gil moved to London, but returned to Bahia in 1972 and continued his musical career, while also working as a politician and environmental advocate. Known internationally, the album Quanta Live at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, it won the award for Best World Album and album Eletracústico won Grammy Award—Best Contemporary World Music Album.

5. Chico Buarque (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 60.26, Chico Buarque is the 5th most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic, and cultural reflections on Brazil. The firstborn son of Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda, Buarque lived at several locations throughout his childhood, though mostly in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Rome. He wrote and studied literature as a child and found music through the bossa nova compositions of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. He performed as a singer and guitarist in the 1960s as well as writing a play that was deemed dangerous by the Brazilian military dictatorship of the time. Buarque, along with several Tropicalist and MPB musicians, was threatened by the Brazilian military government and eventually left Brazil for Italy in 1969. However, he came back to Brazil in 1970, and continued to record, perform, and write, though much of his material was suppressed by government censors. He released several more albums in the 1980s and published three novels in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2019, Buarque was awarded the Camões Prize, the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language. However, awarding of the prize was delayed by four years due to actions by Jair Bolsonaro, but Buarque received it in April 2023.

6. Baden Powell (1937 - 2000)

With an HPI of 57.37, Baden Powell is the 6th most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Baden Powell de Aquino (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈbadẽ ˈpawew]; 6 August 1937 – 26 September 2000), known professionally as Baden Powell, was a Brazilian guitarist. He combined classical techniques with popular harmony and swing. He performed in many styles, including bossa nova, samba, Brazilian jazz, Latin jazz and MPB. He performed on stage during most of his lifetime. Powell composed many pieces for guitar some of them now considered guitar standards, such as Abração em Madrid, Braziliense, Canto de Ossanha, Casa Velha, Consolação, Horizon, Imagem, Lotus, Samba, Samba Triste, Simplesmente, Tristeza e Solidão, and Samba da Benção. He released Os Afro-sambas, a watershed album in MPB, with Vinicius de Moraes in 1966. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian guitar players of all time.

7. Sérgio Mendes (1941 - 2024)

With an HPI of 57.30, Sérgio Mendes is the 7th most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Sérgio Santos Mendes (Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈsɛʁʒju ˈsɐ̃tuz ˈmẽdʒis]; 11 February 1941 – 5 September 2024) was a Brazilian musician. His career took off with worldwide hits by his band Brasil '66. He released 35 albums and was known for playing bossa nova, often mixed with funk. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2012 as a co-writer of "Real in Rio" from the animated film Rio. Mendes was primarily known in the United States, where his albums were recorded and where most of his touring took place. He was married to Gracinha Leporace, who performed with him from the early 1970s. Mendes collaborated with many artists, including Black Eyed Peas, with whom he re-recorded in 2006 a remake of his 1966 version of the song "Mas que nada", which was a breakthrough hit for him.

8. Milton Nascimento (b. 1942)

With an HPI of 56.33, Milton Nascimento is the 8th most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Milton Silva Campos do Nascimento (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈmiwtõ ˈsiwvɐ ˈkɐ̃pus du nasiˈmẽtu]; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Nascimento has recorded 32 studio albums and has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his album Nascimento in 1998. He has collaborated with various artists including Björk, Pat Metheny, Caetano Veloso, and Elis Regina.

9. Toquinho (b. 1946)

With an HPI of 56.07, Toquinho is the 9th most famous Brazilian Musician. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Antônio Pecci Filho (born July 6, 1946), better known as Toquinho (Portuguese pronunciation: [toˈkĩɲu]), is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. He is well known for his collaborations, as composer and performer, with Vinicius de Moraes.

10. Rita Lee (1947 - 2023)

With an HPI of 55.79, Rita Lee is the 10th most famous Brazilian Musician. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Rita Lee Jones (São Paulo 31 December 1947 – 8 May 2023) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, presenter, actress, writer, and activist. Known as the "Queen of Brazilian Rock," she sold more than 55 million records, making her the most successful female artist by record sales in Brazil and the fourth overall, behind Tonico & Tinoco, Roberto Carlos, and Nelson Gonçalves. She built a career that started with rock but over the years flirted with various genres, such as psychedelia during the Tropicália era, pop rock, disco, new wave, pop, bossa nova, and electronic, creating a pioneering hybrid between international and national genres. Rita was considered one of the most influential musicians in Brazil, being a reference for those who began the greater use of electric guitars from the mid-1970s. A former member of the group Os Mutantes (1966–1972) and Tutti Frutti (1973–1978), she participated in important revolutions in the world of music and society. Her songs, often filled with biting irony or a claim of female independence, became omnipresent on the charts. The album "Fruto Proibido" (1975), released with the band Tutti Frutti, is commonly seen as a fundamental landmark in the history of Brazilian rock, considered by some as her masterpiece. In 1976, she began a romantic relationship with multi-instrumentalist and composer Roberto de Carvalho, who was the partner in most of Rita's compositions. They had three children, including guitarist Beto Lee, who accompanied his parents in live shows. Rita was vegan and an animal rights advocate. With a sixty-year career, the artist transitioned from the innovation and musical underground of the 1960s and 1970s to the very successful romantic ballads of the 1980s and a musical revolution, performing with numerous artists, including Elis Regina, João Gilberto, and the band Titãs. In October 2008, Rolling Stone magazine promoted a list of the hundred greatest artists in Brazilian music, where she ranks 15th. In 2023, Rita, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer two years earlier, died at the age of 75 on May 8, 2023.

People

Pantheon has 36 people classified as Brazilian musicians born between 1880 and 1993. Of these 36, 24 (66.67%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Brazilian musicians include Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Chico Buarque. The most famous deceased Brazilian musicians include Antônio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto, and Baden Powell. As of April 2024, 4 new Brazilian musicians have been added to Pantheon including Marcos Valle, Eumir Deodato, and Noel Rosa.