1943

Marcos Valle was born in Rio de Janeiro, and took piano and music theory lessons as a child. As he grew older, he developed a taste for live music at bars and clubs, where he’d listen to jazz. In 1961, Valle, Edu Lobo and Dori Caymmi grouped for a few presentations. With his brother, Paulo Sergio Valle, he wrote a number of hits and made his first album, "Samba Demais", in 1964. He headed to the United States in the following year, where Walter Wanderley successfully recorded "Samba de Verão". "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só" and "Terra de Ninguém" are also from that period, as well as "Samba de Maria", "O Amor É Chama", "Viola Enluarada" (recorded with Milton Nascimento), "Dia de Vitória", "Gente", "Seu Encanto" and "Ao Amigo Tom". While in the States, Valle worked with Airto Moreira. In the 70s, he approached pop and soul music. Then, while writing soap-opera soundtracks, his hit list increased, including "Quarentão Simpático", "Com Mais de Trinta", "Mustang Cor de Sangue", "Os Grilos", "Freio Aerodinâmico", "Que Bandeira", "Black Is Beautiful", "O Cafona", "Não Tem Nada Não". His career took a distinct pop turn in the 80s, and he managed to smash one hit or other. Marcos Valle was a composer from the so-called "second wave" of bossa nova musicians. His swingy, dance-driven style, supported by inventive grooves, easily fit the European dance floors, where his music became hip in the 90s, in the midst of the drum’n’bass fever, helping create a new style: the drum’n’bossa. His records have been re-issued and others have been produced, mainly through London based Far Out Records