Dominguinhos

José Domingos de Morais (February 12, 1941), aka Dominguinhos, was a Brazilian accordionist and composer. He rose to prominence for his seamless amalgamation of Northeastern Brazilian music with bossa nova, jazz, and pop. Throughout his career, Dominguinhos collaborated with some of Brazil's most popular artists, including Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethânia, Elba Ramalho, and Toquinho. Hailing from Pernambuco, he began playing accordion at the tender age of 6. By the time he was a teenager, he was already a virtuoso and started playing professionally. A fortunate encounter with his musical idol Luiz Gonzaga led to a trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1954 when Dominguinhos was just thirteen years old. He played and toured with the King of Baião and then made his debut in 1964 with the LP Fim de Festa. With a career encompassing five decades of music and over 40 LPs, Dominguinhos continued to record and tour well into the 2000s and collaborated with up-and-coming Brazilian singer-songwriters such as Chico César, who invited the accordion legend to perform on his 2008 single “Deus Me Proteja.” In 2012, Dominguinhos was hospitalized due to a respiratory tract infection that sent him into a coma. The artist struggled for his life for over a year and passed away in 2013 at the age of 72.