Sérgio Santos Mendes, pron. IPA: ['sɛxʒiu 'sɐ̃tus 'mẽ'dʒis], (born February… Read Full Bio ↴Sérgio Santos Mendes, pron. IPA: ['sɛxʒiu 'sɐ̃tus 'mẽ'dʒis], (born February 11, 1941 in Niterói, Brazil) is a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian musician. He has released over thirty-five albums, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk.

Mendes is married to Gracinha Leporace who regularly performs vocals for her husband and can also be heard on his 2006 version of the song Mas Que Nada with the Black Eyed Peas.

Early career
The child of a physician in Niterói, Brazil, Mendes attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late-1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was taking off. Mendes played with Antônio Carlos Jobim (whom he regarded as a mentor) and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil.

Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 196. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the name Sergio Mendes and Brasil '65 with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records.

Brasil '66
When sales were tepid, he replaced his Brazilian born vocalist Wanda de Sa with the distinctive voice of Chicago native Lani Hall (who learned Mendes' Portuguese material phonetically), switched to Herb Alpert's A&M label, and released Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, an album that went platinum based largely on the success of the single "Mas Que Nada" (a Jorge Ben cover) and the personal support of Alpert, with whom Mendes toured regularly.

The original lineup of Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 was Mendes (piano), vocalists Lani Hall and Janis Hansen, Bob Matthews (bass), Jose Soares (percussion), and Joao Palma (drums). John Pisano guested as guitarist. This lineup recorded three albums between 1966-1968 (including the best-selling Look Around LP), before there was a major personnel change for their fourth album Fool on the Hill.

Karen Philipp replaced Hansen as the second female vocalist, while veteran drummer Dom Um Romão teamed with Rubens Bassini to assume percussionist duties. Sebastiao Neto was the new bassist and Oscar Castro-Neves the guitarist. This lineup had a more orchestral and big band sound than their predecessors. Most significantly, in the early 1970s, lead singer Hall pursued a solo career and became Alpert's second wife. Some accounts claim that Mendes was upset with Alpert for years for "stealing" Hall away from his group.

Though his early singles with Brasil '66 (most notably "Mas Que Nada") met with some success, Mendes really burst into mainstream prominence when he performed the Oscar-nominated Burt Bacharach and Hal David song The Look of Love on the Academy Awards telecast in April 1968. Brasil '66's version of the song quickly shot into the top 10, peaking at #4, and eclipsing Dusty Springfield's version from the soundtrack of the movie, Casino Royale. Mendes spent the rest of 1968 enjoying consecutive top 10 and top 20 hits with his follow-up singles, "The Fool on the Hill" and "Scarborough Fair". From 1968 on, Mendes was arguably the biggest Brazilian star in the world, enjoying immense popularity worldwide and performing in venues as varied as stadium arenas and the White House, where he gave concerts for both Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon.

Middle career
Mendes' career in the U.S. stalled in the mid-1970s, but he remained very popular in South America and Japan. His two albums with Bell Records in 1973 and 1974, followed by several for Elektra from 1975 on, found Mendes continuing to mine the best in American pop music and post-bossa writers of his native Brazil, while forging new directions in soul with collaborators like Stevie Wonder, who wrote Mendes' R&B-inflected minor hit, "The Real Thing".

In 1983, he rejoined Alpert's A&M records and enjoyed huge success with a self-titled album and several follow-up albums, all of which received considerable adult contemporary airplay with charting singles. "Never Gonna Let You Go", featuring vocals by Joe Pizzulo and Leza Miller, equalled the success of his 1968 single "The Look of Love" by reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it also spent four weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart. In 1984, Mendes worked with singer Lani Hall again.

By the time Mendes released his Grammy-winning Elektra album Brasileiro in 1992, he was the undisputed master of pop-inflected Brazilian jazz. The late-1990s lounge music revival brought retrospection and respect to Mendes' oeuvre, particularly the classic Brasil '66 albums. His stature in his native Brazil is reflected by "Cantor de Mambo", a song by fellow Brazilians Os Mutantes, which they regularly dedicate to Mendes in concert.

Later career
Timeless features a wide array of neo-soul and alternative hip hop guest artists, most prominently will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas. It was released February 14, 2006 by Concord Records.

The album features the Black Eyed Peas, Erykah Badu, Black Thought, Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, India.Arie, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Q-Tip, Stevie Wonder and Pharoahe Monch.

The 2006 re-recorded version of "Mas que Nada" with the Black Eyed Peas had additional vocals by Gracinha Leporace (Mendes' wife); a version that is included on his album Timeless. In Brazil, the song is pretty well-known for being the theme song for the local television channel Globo's Estrelas.

The Black Eyed Peas' version also contains a sample of their 2004 hit "Hey Mama". The re-recorded song became popular on many European charts. On the UK Singles Chart, the song entered at #29 and rose to and peaked at #6 on its second week on the chart.

Official website of Sérgio Mendes: http://www.sergiomendesmusic.com

O Morro
Sérgio Mendes Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The breeze was cool
His kiss was fire
The nightbirds sang their trills
And when the moon was gone
Hidden by the clouds
I put the fire out somehwere in the hills

He eyes could laugh

I saw them laugh
His lips a world of thrills
The moon looked down and smiled
On a tender love
To see it blossoming
Somehwere in the hills

All night long
We would samba
Laugh and sing with our friends
Love can be like a samba
Full of joy that it is

New day, new dawn
And I have gone
In search of other thrills
The moon looks down
And sighs
For those laughing eyes are crying
Silently somewhere in the hills

All night long
We would samba
Laugh and sing with our friends

Love can be like a samba
Full of joy that it is

Overall Meaning

The song, "Somewhere in the Hills" by Sergio Mendes, is a melancholic tune that narrates a love story that had a short-lived euphoria. The opening lines of "The breeze was cool, his kiss was fire" set the mood of the song - a hot, romantic relationship that might have ended as quick as it began. The imagery of the nightbirds singing, the moon hiding behind clouds, and the fire being put out, juxtaposes the highs and the lows of the relationship, and paints a picture of a love that was intense but fleeting. The line "His lips a world of thrills" further emphasizes the excitement and passion that the singer experienced while in the relationship.

The chorus "All night long, we would samba, laugh and sing with our friends, love can be like a samba full of joy that it is" adds a hint of nostalgia, painting a picture of a time when the singer was immersed in the exhilarating feelings of love. The lyrics in the last verse talk about how the singer's search for new thrills and excitement has taken them away from the love they once shared. The line "for those laughing eyes are crying silently somewhere in the hills" is a beautiful depiction of how the singer's internal emotional turmoil has taken away the joy they once shared.

Overall, "Somewhere in the Hills" is a song that explores the ups and downs of intense love, and how the fleeting moments of love can leave a lasting impact on our hearts and memories.

Line by Line Meaning

The breeze was cool
The cool breeze made the atmosphere pleasant

His kiss was fire
His kiss was full of passion and intensity

The nightbirds sang their trills
The nightbirds chirped melodiously

And when the moon was gone
When the moon disappeared from view

Hidden by the clouds
Being obscured by the clouds

I put the fire out somehwere in the hills
The singer extinguished a fire in an undisclosed location in the hills

He eyes could laugh
His eyes conveyed happiness and joy

I saw them laugh
The artist witnessed the joy in his eyes

His lips a world of thrills
His passionate kisses were exciting

The moon looked down and smiled
The moon appeared to be pleased with the loving scene

On a tender love
The moon looked upon a gentle love

To see it blossoming
To watch the love develop and grow

Somehwere in the hills
The love was taking place in an undisclosed location in the hills

All night long
Throughout the entire night

We would samba
They would dance the samba

Laugh and sing with our friends
They would also enjoy the company of their friends by laughing and singing together

Love can be like a samba
Love can be passionate and full of joy, just like the dance samba

Full of joy that it is
It is filled with happiness

New day, new dawn
A new day has begun

And I have gone
The artist has left

In search of other thrills
Looking for excitement and new experiences

The moon looks down
The moon observes the scene

And sighs
Seeming to express disappointment or sadness

For those laughing eyes are crying
The person's joyful eyes are now filled with tears, indicating sadness

Silently somewhere in the hills
Unseen by others, the person is experiencing sorrow in an undisclosed location in the hills

Lyrics © CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION
Written by: ANTONIO CARLOS BRASILEIRO DE ALMEIDA JOBIM, MARCUS VINICIUS DA CRUZ DE MELLO MORAES, RAY GILBERT

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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