1939

A predecessor of the bossa nova movement, along with Roberto Menescal, Ronaldo Bôscoli, Edu Lobo and Nara Leão, Lyra would play the guitar and sing at parties and friends’ houses up till 1954, when he started playing his own compositions in festivals and contests. His career only took off in 1959, though, when João Gilberto released the LP "Chega de Saudade", which featured three of his songs: "Maria Ninguém", "Lobo Bobo" and "Saudade Fez um Samba", the last two co-written with Bôscoli. That same year, he recorded his first solo album via Phillips. He made other records in the 60s and wrote music scores for movies and plays, including Vinícius de Moraes’ "Pobre Menina Rica", which would later be turned into an LP that featured the hits "Minha Namorada" and "Primavera". He played the Carnegie Hall Bossa Nova Festival in 1962. Lyra showed irony toward the foreign descendent of bossa nova with "Influência do Jazz" ("The Influence of Jazz"). Through popular culture centers and student’s organizations, he promoted meetings between bossa nova (mostly middle class) and samba (mostly the black and the poor) musicians, writing "Samba da Legalidade" with samba composer Zé Keti. He spent some time in Mexico by the second half of the 60s, where he made music for films and plays and wrote jingles. Lyra returned to Brazil in 1971 and released an album with Chico Buarque. Three years later he left for another season abroad, this time in Los Angeles, where he studied Astrology, eventually issuing a book on the subject. During the 80s and 90s, he continued writing music scores and performing in Europe and Asia with other bossa nova stars.