Ivan Lins

Ivan Guimarães Lins, born on June 16, 1945, in Rio de Janeiro, is a celebrated Brazilian singer, pianist, and composer whose career has profoundly shaped Música Popular Brasileira (MPB). Influenced by jazz, bossa nova, and soul, he began playing piano at 18 and gained prominence in the late 1960s with festival performances, including his breakthrough composition "Madalena," famously recorded by Elis Regina. His early albums, such as Agora (1971) and Modo Livre (1974), showcased his evolving style and his fruitful collaboration with lyricist Vítor Martins. Signature songs like "Abre Alas," "Somos Todos Iguais Nesta Noite," and "Começar de Novo" solidified his status as a leading voice in Brazilian music. Over the years, he toured globally with his band and performed with Supergenerous, a quintet featuring Cyro Baptista and Kevin Breit. In 2023, he released My Heart Speaks on Resonance Records, a career-spanning project featuring the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, Randy Brecker, and vocalists including Jane Monheit, who contributed English lyrics to two songs. The album, lauded as a masterful retrospective, followed a tribute album, Night Kisses, released in 2020 by Eddie Daniels. With Grammy-winning albums like Cantando Histórias (2005) and América, Brasil (2015), Ivan Lins remains one of Brazil's most recorded and celebrated composers worldwide.