- Tim Maia
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Tim Maia 
Background information Birth name Sebastião Rodrigues Maia Also known as Tião
SíndicoBorn September 28, 1942
Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilOrigin Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Died March 15, 1998 (aged 55)
Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilGenres MPB, soul, funk Occupations Singer, songwriter Instruments Voice, guitar, drums Years active 1970–1998 Labels Polydor Associated acts The Sputniks, Roberto Carlos, Erasmo Carlos, Jorge Ben, The Ideals, Eduardo Araújo, Tony Tornado, Cassiano, Hyldon, Vitória Régia Tim Maia (Portuguese pronunciation: [tʃĩ majɐ]; September 28, 1942 – March 15, 1998), born Sebastião Rodrigues Maia in Rio de Janeiro, was a famous Brazilian musician known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and polemical (but always humorous) musical style. He was also known for his habit of lightheartedly missing appointments and even important gigs.[1]
Maia performed in a variety of musical genres, ranging from happy and energetic dance music to sentimental songs such as his hit "Me Dê Motivo". He performed soul music, funk, bossa nova (in the 1990s), romantic songs, American pop, samba, baião, and Música Popular Brasileira.
Contents
Biography
Early career
Maia wrote his earliest songs at age eight. At 14, as a drummer, he formed the group Os Tijucanos do Ritmo, which lasted one year. He then took guitar classes and was soon teaching children in the neighborhood of Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, including the Matoso gang (Maia, Jorge Ben, Erasmo Esteves, later Erasmo Carlos, and several others), named after the street where they used to hang out.
In that period, Maia was the guitar teacher of Esteves and when Roberto Carlos joined the gang in 1958, he also took classes with him. Maia and Carlos (together with Edson Trindade, Arlênio Lívio, and José Roberto "China") formed the group The Sputnikis, playing balls and performing on television (including on Carlos Imperial's Clube do Rock on TV Continental, where Carlos was already a regular). The group was soon dissolved due to incompatibility between Carlos and Maia.
In 1959, Maia went to study communications in the United States, where he lived for four years. There he started as a vocalist, having joined The Ideals, but in 1963, he was arrested for possession of marijuana.[1]
Jailed for six months and then deported to Brazil, he did not find any support from his old comrades Esteves and Carlos, who were beginning to enjoy the massive success of Jovem Guarda, which would get a grip on the entire country in a few years. Moving to São Paulo, he had some support from Os Mutantes instead. He recorded his first single in 1968 with his compositions "Meu País" and "Sentimento". He became more visible after 1969 when he launched his "These Are the Songs," which was re-recorded by Elis Regina in the next year, in duo with him and included on Regina's Em Pleno Verão.
1970s
In the 1970s, Maia started to record albums and perform shows promoting his synthesis of American soul and Brazilian music with elements of samba and baião. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.
In 1970 Maia recorded his first full-length LP, Tim Maia, which included the classics "Azul da Cor do Mar", "Coroné Antônio Bento", and "Primavera", and topped the charts for 24 weeks in Rio de Janeiro. His first four albums were all self-titled. Next year's Tim Maia had other hits including "Não Quero Dinheiro (Só Quero Amar)" and "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só". His fourth album, released in 1973, included "Réu Confesso" and "Gostava Tanto de Você".
Maia founded two record labels: Vitória Régia Discos and Seroma. Through the latter he released the albums Tim Maia Racional, Vols. 1 & 2, both with songs about the knowledge contained in the book Universo em Desencanto (Universe in Disenchantment), revolving around the cult of Rational Culture. At the time these records were not well-received. This was because Seroma was a label set-up by Maia himself (he wanted all profits to go to the cult) and it lacked adequate distribution, as well as the fact that concerts were promoted as evenings of Rational Culture, and very rarely did he use his name to promote them.[2] They are now regarded as classics and saw re-release in 2005. In 1978 Maia had one of his biggest hits, "Sossego," and another success with "Acenda o Farol," both launched on Tim Maia Disco Club.
1980s and 1990s
In 1983 he had hits with "O Descobridor dos Sete Mares" and "Me Dê Motivo", included on O Descobridor dos Sete Mares (Polygram). Another milestone of his career in the 1980s was Tim Maia (1986), which had the hit "Do Leme ao Pontal (Tomo Guaraná, Suco de Caju, Goiabada Para Sobremesa)".
In 1990 he interpreted bossa nova classics on an album released through his label Vitória Régia that wasn't noticed, the LP Tim Maia Interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova. After a period of poor presence in the media, he was again on top after being mentioned by Jorge Ben Jor's "W/Brasil" in 1993. In the same period, Maia had another hit with his re-recording of "Como uma Onda" (Lulu Santos/Nelson Motta) for a television advertisement.
At the same time, he withdrew from majors, recording his next albums through Vitória Régia, including What a Wonderful World (1997), where he recorded American pop/soul classics, and Amigos do Rei/Tim Maia e Os Cariocas, with the famous vocal group. Obese and in bad health, in March 1998 he was performing at the Municipal Theater of Niterói when he became ill. He was hospitalized and died few a days later. Tim had suffered from many health problems which includes Diabetes, Acute Hypertension, Obesity and Pulmonary Embolism. In 1999 he was paid tribute in a show by several Música Popular Brasileira artists. The show was launched on CD and DVD. In 2000 he had another tribute, also released in CD.
Personal life
Tim Maia had two sons: Márcio Leonardo, known as Léo Maia, and Carmelo Maia, known as Telmo. Léo Maia, the eldest, was registered by Tim as his son, although he knew that Léo was not his child, since he met his wife Geisa when she was already pregnant. She had been separated from her boyfriend, who refused to recognize Léo as his child. Tim and Geisa started living together but they broke up after a few arguments. When they made up, she was pregnant with another man's child, who had also abandoned her. Tim also registered Carmelo as his son and married her. He was proud to say that a father is a man who raises his children, and not one who puts them in the world. Tim Maia had no biological children of his own, but he devoted himself to raising Geisa's children and to his career.
Tim Maia became a member of the Brazilian Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Brasileiro - PSB) in October 1997.[3] He was rumoured to have joined the party in order to run for a seat in the Federal Senate for Rio de Janeiro in the 1998 general elections, but died before that.[3] When asked by a reporter why he chose to join the then small PSB, he replied: "Brazil is the only country where – in addition to whores cumming, pimps being jealous, and drug dealers being addicted – poor people vote on the right-wing".[3] His phrase would become a famous aphorism on the way Brazilians face politics.[3]
Discography
- 1970: Tim Maia
- 1971: Tim Maia
- 1972: Tim Maia
- 1973: Tim Maia
- 1975: Racional
- 1976: Racional, vol.2
- 1976: Tim Maia
- 1977: Tim Maia
- 1978: Tim Maia Disco Club
- 1978: Tim Maia
- 1979: Reencontro
- 1980: Tim Maia
- 1982: Nuvens
- 1983: O descobridor dos sete mares
- 1984: Sufocante
- 1985: Tim Maia
- 1986: Tim Maia (volume 10)
- 1987: Somos América
- 1988: Carinhos
- 1990: Dance bem
- 1990: Tim Maia interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova
- 1991: Sossego
- 1993: Não quero dinheiro
- 1993: Romântico
- 1994: Voltou clarear
- 1995: Tim Maia ao vivo
- 1995: Nova era glacial
- 1997: Pro meu grande amor
- 1997: Sorriso de criança
- 1997: What a Wonderful World
- 1997: Amigos do rei, com Os Cariocas
- 1997: Só você: Para ouvir e dançar
- 1998: Tim Maia ao Vivo II
References
- ^ a b Motta, Nelson (2001). Noites Tropicais. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Objetiva. ISBN 85-7302-292-2.
- ^ Slater, Russ. "Tim Maia's Journey into Rational Culture" Sounds and Colours, 7 July 2010. Retrieved on 2010-07-2010
- ^ a b c d (Portuguese) Lucena, Pierre. "Biografia de Tim Maia é o livro mais divertido do ano". Acerto de Contas. December 11, 2007.
Categories:- Brazilian people of Black African descent
- Brazilian male singers
- Música Popular Brasileira singers
- People from Rio de Janeiro (city)
- Bossa nova singers
- Funk singers
- Rhythm and blues singers
- Soul singers
- 1942 births
- 1998 deaths
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