Cássia Eller

by Alvaro Neder Cássia Eller is one of the most successful pop singers/composers in Brazil. The owner of a distinctive contralto timbre, she is basically a pop/rock singer who cultivates the outsider outlook and flirts with MPB. She had her Com Você...Meu Mundo Ficaria Completo nominated for the first Latin Grammy (2000) as Best Brazilian Rock Album. Not a top-selling artist (which in Brazil can be about 300,000/1,000,000 sold copies), she remains as a cult artist. Cássia Eller's mother was very fond of music and initiated her in this art. At 14, she received a violão as a gift and learned to play Beatles tunes. In 1981, she worked with Oswaldo Montenegro in a musical. Living in Brasília DF, she participated in the first trio elétrico (powerful sound systems built in trucks to animate the Bahian carnival since its inception by Dodô and Osmar) of the Brazil capital, Massa Real. Leaving school before completing high school studies, she was determined to spent her life singing. In 1987, she formed the short-lived band Malas e Bagagens. In 1989, she recorded a demo tape with "Por Enquanto" (Renato Russo) for her first manager, her uncle Anderson, who showed it to Polygram. The song would be her first hit. Signing with the label, she recorded her first album in 1990, Cássia Eller, which included "Rubens," an ambiguous love song (Premeditando o Breque) which had been vetoed by censorship. The second album (O Marginal, Polygram, 1992) has a bigger São Paulo influence. The third, Cássia Eller (Polygram, 1994), had an approximation with MPB and an interpretation of "Na Cadência do Samba" by Ataulfo Alves. Two tracks made it to the hit parade: "Malandragem" (Cazuza) and "E.C.T." (Nando Reis/Marisa Monte/Carlinhos Brown). Ao Vivo (Som Livre, 1996) is a live recorded album with two other musicians accompanying her on violões/bass (which she also plays). She also recorded Veneno Antimonotonia (Polygram, 1997), Veneno Vivo (Polygram, 1998), and Com Você...Meu Mundo Ficaria Completo (Polygram, 1999) (which was nominated for the first Latin Grammy awards as Best Brazilian Rock Album).