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.
Rain Drops
Maysa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As long as the sun is bright
Soon as the clouds come rolling by
Big tears form in my eyes
Can't explain
How I feel when the sky is grey
I sit alone and I just pray
Rain drops keep falling down
Your voice keeps calling me
Such a familiar sound
Those rainy nights keep haunting me
You're still on my mind
Even after all this time
I've tried to stay away
Move on to a brand new day
It's such a shame
You really couldn't make up your mind
I couldn't wait another day
For your love
"Maysa's song Rain Drops" is a beautiful song that expresses the emotional rollercoaster of a break up. The song starts off by acknowledging that the singer feels alright as long as the sun is out, but as soon as the clouds roll in, the tears start to flow. The lyrics speak of how hard it is for her to explain how she feels when the sky is grey, and she finds herself alone, praying for a sunny day.
As the song progresses, the lyrics reveal that the rain and cloudy weather remind her of a past relationship that she hasn't been able to let go of. The "familiar sound" of her ex's voice keeps calling her, and she finds herself haunted by their history. Despite trying to move on and start fresh, her former partner is still on her mind, even after all this time. She has tried to stay away, but it's not easy when memories and emotions keep flooding back.
The last verse of the song suggests that the reason for their separation was that her ex couldn't make up their mind about their relationship, which ultimately led to the singer having to move on. Despite the hurt she felt, she couldn't wait any longer for their love. Overall, the song speaks to the universal feeling of not being able to move on from a past love, and how the weather can trigger certain emotions and memories.
Line by Line Meaning
I feel alright
I'm doing okay
As long as the sun is bright
As long as the weather is good, I'm happy
Soon as the clouds come rolling by
Once the weather changes, I start to feel sad
Big tears form in my eyes
I start to cry
Can't explain
I can't find the words
How I feel when the sky is grey
I feel sad when it's cloudy
I sit alone and I just pray
I pray for better weather
For a sunny day
I want it to be sunny
Rain drops keep falling down
It's still raining
Your voice keeps calling me
I still hear your words
Such a familiar sound
I remember your voice
Those rainy nights keep haunting me
I still think about our time together
You're still on my mind
I still haven't forgotten about you
Even after all this time
I've been thinking about you for a long time
I've tried to stay away
I've tried to move on
Move on to a brand new day
I've tried to start fresh
It's such a shame
It's disappointing
You really couldn't make up your mind
You couldn't decide what you wanted
I couldn't wait another day
I couldn't wait any longer
For your love
I wanted your affection
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, ASYAM KAEL MUSIC INC., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Graham Harvey, Maysa Leak, Richard Bull, Richard Michael Bull
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind