A love of music has been expressed through the adventurous and innovative singing of Brazil-born vocalist Gal Costa (born: Maria De Graca Costa Penna Burgos). A prominent figure in the world of Brazilian pop music since the early-1960s, Costa is one of Latin music's most respected interpreters of the Bossa Nova and tropicalia songs of Caetano Veloso, Douval Caymmi, Gilberto Gil, Ary Barroso and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Her albums have included light, airy, arrangements featuring her, Astrud Gilberto-like, vocals set to a lone acoustic guitar and heavily-produced, full band, arrangements. According to Brazilia, Costa has produced "some of Tropicalia's fieriest, wildest, most crazily experimental albums".
Music has been a continuous thread throughout Costa's life. She spent listening to the radio and worked at a record store as a teenager. Encouraged by friends, she traveled to Rio De Janiero and Sao Paulo, in the early-1960s, hoping to meet top-notch Brazilian musicians. Introducing herself to Veloso, Costa began collaborating with the influential Brazilian singer and songwriter. Their debut album as a duo, Domingo, was released in 1967. Their subsequent collaborations included the albums, Temporada De Verao Ao Vivo Na Bahia in 1974 and Doces Barbados in 1976. Costa worked with opera singer Placido Domingo and Jobim on the 1992 album, Concert For Planet Earth.
Costa paid tribute to the songs of Caymmi with a disco/pop album, Gal Costa Caymmi, in 1976. Four years later, she recorded an album-length tribute to the songs of Ary Barraso, the Brazilian singer-songwriter of the 1930s, '40s and '50s, Aquarela Do Brasil. Costa's 1984 album, Profane, included a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Lately," sung in Portuguese. In 1996, Costa was featured on the soundtrack of the film, Tieta Do Agreste. ~ Craig Harris