1. A Brazilian MPB singer and s… Read Full Bio ↴There are two artists who use this name:
1. A Brazilian MPB singer and songwriter
2. A Grammy-nominated American jazz singer
1. Maysa Figueira Monjardim Matarazzo (June 6, 1936, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – January 22, 1977, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), better known as Maysa Matarazzo or simply Maysa, was a Brazilian singer, songwriter and actress, being one of the first female songwriters of Brazil and one of the precursors of the genre samba-canção. She had great success in the 1950s and 1960s, known especially for her pessimistic, hopeless, melancholic and dramatic lyrics and interpretations, very characteristic of her image and career. She is also associated with bossa nova music, but is widely known as a torch song (música de fossa) interpreter.
Maysa's grandfather was Alfeu Adolfo Monjardim de Andrade e Almeida, the 1st Baron of Monjardim, and wife Laurinda Luísa Pinto Pereira. Maysa showed talent at a young age and by twelve had written a samba song, which later became a hit from her first album. She married André Matarazzo Filho, a member of a wealthy and traditional São Paulo family in 1954 at the age of 18 and two years later had a son, Jayme Monjardim. Jayme would later be known as a television director. In the late 1950s she formed a successful bossa nova group and also did television work relying on her magnificent pair of gorgeous green eyes.
Her tour to Buenos Aires first projected bossa nova beyond Brazil's borders but was not without controversy. The tour was a great success and extended to Chile and Uruguay, but Maysa had an affair with the show's producer, Ronaldo Bôscoli, a journalist and composer linked romantically to bossa nova's muse Nara Leão. This led not only to a break between Nara and Ronaldo, but also to a fracture in the bossa nova movement. Nara supported Carlos Lyra's nationalist vertent of the bossa nova movement, to the detriment of Boscoli's more orthodox approach, emphasizing form rather than content in bossa nova compositions. Nara also began courting older composers of traditional sambas, such as morro composers Zé Kéti and Cartola. She also became an idol of the protest song genre against the military dictatorship in Brazil. Nara's pocket show "Opinião" marked the start of a series of protest musical shows, which both in Rio and São Paulo distracted the public from the main themes of "the love, the smile and the flower", typical of the bossa nova years. So Maysa became "persona non grata" both to the bossa-novistas and the protest singers and her career faltered. She reacted by marrying Spaniard music producer Miguel Anzana, with whom she moved to Spain and began a series of presentations not only in Spain, but also Portugal, Italy and France.
Her personal life, already tumultuous, became even more chaotic leading to her being called "the Janis Joplin of Bossa Nova". But she later made a come back with one of the first notable shows in Rio's "Canecão" venue, the equivalent of Carnegie Hall in NYC. Maysa also played the Olympia in Paris to a full house twice and enjoyed considerable success in Europe. She is still considered the best Brazilian "torch song" (fossa) musician, rivaled only perhaps by Nora Ney as interpreter and Dolores Duran as composer. Upon her return to Brazil, Maysa continued to blend her old unique "broken love affair" trademarks with the more current festival style and occasional bossa nova hits. In the 1970s Maysa tapped her actress side and acted on a few telenovelas in Brazil. She also composed the soundtrack for a Rede Globo telenova just as the TV network became the powerhouse of Brazilian soap operas. She appeared more in peace with herself in latter years but died in a car crash in 1977, on the Rio-Niterói bridge, which connects the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói over the Guanabara Bay.
In January 2009, 32 years after her death, a miniseries about her life was broadcast on Brazilian television and spanned two new books about one of Brazil's most charismatic divas. Maysa's style influenced the following generations of Brazilian female singers and composers, with great ascendancy in the works of Angela Ro Ro, Simone, Cazuza, Leila Pinheiro and Fafá de Belém.
2. Maysa Leak (born August 17, 1966) is an American jazz singer better known by her mononym Maysa. She is well known by fans of smooth jazz both for her solo work and for her work with the British band Incognito.
After receiving her degree from Morgan State University, Maysa headed to Southern California to perform with Stevie Wonder’s female backup group Wonderlove, While with Wonder, Maysa was a vocalist on the Jungle Fever soundtrack and performed on numerous television shows including The Arsenio Hall Show, Oprah and The Tonight Show.
It was during an over-the-telephone audition in the early 90s, that Maysa become a member of the acclaimed British jazz/funk/R&B band Incognito and in 1992 she relocated to London and recorded Tribes, Vibes & Scribes, featuring the hit single "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing." Since then, Maysa has appeared on over seven Incognito recordings.
Maysa recorded her self-titled debut in 1995, followed by her second album All My Life in 2000, Out of The Blue in 2002, Smooth Sailing in 2004, Sweet Classic Soul in 2006, and now Feel The Fire, 2007. In 2008, Metamorphosis peaked at No.1 on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz top 100 chart and no.13 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. In 2010, "A Woman in Love", Maysa 8th Solo cd debuted at No.1 on the Contemporary Jazz Charts. Maysa's 9th solo album,Motions of Love, released in November 2011, debuted at No. 1 on Billboards Contemporary Jazz Charts and Number 7 on the R&B charts.
Maysa has also collaborated with well-known jazz performers like Gerald Veasley, Rick Braun, Will Downing, Jason Miles' Soul Summit, Rhythm Logic, Jonathan Butler and Pieces of a Dream.
In 2009, Maysa won the very first new Soul Train Award named for the brand's new owners, CENTRIC. The Cenric Award : Soul Approved /Underground.
Maysa Leak was a spokesperson for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a disease that can be fatal to premature babies. She appears in RSV PSA commercials, with her son Jazz, sponsored for the March of Dimes.
In 2013, Maysa received her first Grammy nomination in the "Best Traditional R&B Performance" award category for the song "Quiet Fire" from her album Blue Velvet Soul.
Got To Be Strong
Maysa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can't live a lie anymore
Conquer my fear and write this letter
Gotta let you know how I feel
But how do I tell you this love is over?
That I don't mean to hurt you
Leave you without shelter?
The flame is gone
Got to be strong, got to be strong
I gotta let you know
Got to be strong
I gotta let you go
Must have faith in time the healer
You're gonna be alright, wait and see
It's all for the best to rearrange the future
We're different kinds, you and me
It's killing me to tell you that we can't be together
'Cause everyday you tell me
You're gonna love me forever
We can't go on
The flame is gone
Got to be strong, got to be strong
I gotta let you know
Got to be strong
I gotta let you go
I can't be afraid, it's mind over matter
I can't live a lie anymore
Conquer my fear and write this letter
Gotta let you know how I feel
We can't go on
The flame is gone
Got to be strong, got to be strong
I gotta let you know
Got to be strong
I gotta let you go
Got to be strong, got to be strong
I gotta be strong
The lyrics to Maysa's "Got To Be Strong" express the pain and difficulty in ending a relationship that is no longer working. The singer is conflicted, torn between the desire for honesty and the fear of hurting the other person. The repeated phrase, "Got to be strong," is a mantra or reminder to herself that she must find the inner strength to face this challenging situation.
The lyrics highlight the complexity of relationships - the fact that sometimes love is not enough to sustain a partnership. The line, "We're different kinds, you and me," acknowledges that there may be fundamental differences between the two people that prevent them from being together. The song also recognizes that healing takes time and that it is important to have faith in the future, even when it is difficult to let go of the past.
Overall, "Got To Be Strong" is a powerful and emotional song about the struggle to end a relationship with dignity and respect. It is a reminder that sometimes, the bravest thing we can do is to let go and move on.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't be afraid, it's mind over matter
I can't let my fear control me, I have to use my mind to overcome it.
I can't live a lie anymore
I can't pretend everything is okay when it's not.
Conquer my fear and write this letter
I need to face my fear and express my true feelings in this letter.
Gotta let you know how I feel
I need to be honest and open about my feelings.
But how do I tell you this love is over?
I'm struggling to find the right words to tell you that our love has ended.
That I don't mean to hurt you
I don't want to cause you pain.
Leave you without shelter?
I don't want to leave you without someone to rely on.
We can't go on
Our relationship can't continue.
The flame is gone
The passion we once had for each other is no longer there.
Got to be strong, got to be strong
I need to be strong and follow through with this difficult decision.
I gotta let you know
I have to be honest with you about how I feel.
Got to be strong
It's not going to be easy, but I have to stay strong.
I gotta let you go
I have to let go of our relationship and move on.
Must have faith in time the healer
I need to trust that with time, things will get better.
You're gonna be alright, wait and see
You will recover from this, even though it may not seem like it now.
It's all for the best to rearrange the future
Breaking up is the best thing for both of us, even though it might not feel like it now.
We're different kinds, you and me
We're not a good fit for each other.
It's killing me to tell you that we can't be together
It hurts me to have to tell you that we can't be together anymore.
'Cause everyday you tell me
You express your love for me every day.
You're gonna love me forever
You believe our love will last forever, but unfortunately, it won't.
Got to be strong, got to be strong
I need to be strong and follow through with this difficult decision.
I gotta let you know
I have to be honest with you about how I feel.
Got to be strong
It's not going to be easy, but I have to stay strong.
I gotta let you go
I have to let go of our relationship and move on.
Got to be strong, got to be strong
I need to be strong and follow through with this difficult decision.
I gotta be strong
I have to be strong throughout this process and not give in to my emotions.
Writer(s): Graham Harvey, Jean Paul Maunick
Contributed by Audrey R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.