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 the singer Gracinha Leporace who regularly performs vocals alongside Mendes and can 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 1961. 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 Brasil '65 group name 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 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
Mendes is married to the singer Gracinha Leporace who regularly performs vocals alongside Mendes and can 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 1961. 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 Brasil '65 group name 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 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
Chove Chuva
Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Eu hoje vou fazer uma prece
Pra Deus, nosso Senhor
Pra chuva parar
De molhar o meu divino amor
Que é muito lindo É mais que o infinito
É puro e belo Inocente como a flor
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Hoje eu vou fazer uma prece
Pra Deus, nosso Senhor
Pra chuva parar
De molhar o meu divino amor
Que é muito lindo
É mais que o infinito
É puro e belo Inocente como a flor
Chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Hoje eu vou fazer uma prece
Pra Deus, nosso Senhor
Pra chuva parar
De molhar o meu divino amor
Que é muito lindo
É mais que o infinito
É puro e belo Inocente como a flor
Chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove, chove, chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chuva
Chuva
Chuva, chove sem parar, ei, ei, oh oh
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Eu hoje vou fazer uma prece
Pra Deus, nosso Senhor
De molhar o meu divino amor
Que é muito lindo É mais que o infinito
É puro e belo Inocente como a flor
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Hoje eu vou fazer uma prece
Pra Deus, nosso Senhor
Pra chuva parar
De molhar o meu divino amor
Que é muito lindo
É mais que o infinito
É puro e belo Inocente como a flor
Chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Hoje eu vou fazer uma prece
Pra Deus, nosso Senhor
Pra chuva parar
De molhar o meu divino amor
Que é muito lindo
É mais que o infinito
É puro e belo Inocente como a flor
Chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Por favor, chuva ruim
Não molhe mais
O meu amor assim
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove, chove, chove chuva
Chove sem parar
Chove chuva
Chuva
Chuva
Chuva, chove sem parar, ei, ei, oh oh
The lyrics to Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's song Chove Chuva (Rain is Falling) describe a lover praying to God to make the rain stop as it is continuously falling and wetting their "divine love." They describe their love as "more than the infinite," "pure and beautiful," and "innocent as a flower." The lover pleads for the "bad rain" to stop and not wet their love anymore so that they can be together without any hindrances.
The song's lyrics can be interpreted metaphorically as the "rain" being any obstacle or interference preventing the lovers from being together, and their prayer to God is a manifestation of their love and hope to overcome these obstacles.
The song's upbeat tempo and catchy melody make it a classic samba song. It was composed by Jorge Ben Jor and became a hit in Brazil in the 1960s. Its popularity grew beyond Brazil, reaching international audiences in the US, Canada, and Europe. The song was later covered by other artists, such as Herb Alpert, Al Jarreau, and Ivete Sangalo.
Line by Line Meaning
Chove chuva
It's raining heavily
Chove sem parar
It's raining incessantly
Eu hoje vou fazer uma prece
Today, I'm going to pray
Pra Deus, nosso Senhor
To God, our Lord
Pra chuva parar
To make the rain stop
De molhar o meu divino amor
From soaking my divine love
Que é muito lindo
Who is very beautiful
É mais que o infinito
Is more than infinite
É puro e belo
Is pure and beautiful
Inocente como a flor
Innocent like a flower
Por favor, chuva ruim
Please, bad rain
Não molhe mais
Don't drench anymore
O meu amor assim
My love like this
Chove, chove, chove chuva
It's raining, raining, raining heavily
Chuva
Rain
Chuva, chove sem parar, ei, ei, oh oh
Rain, it's raining incessantly, hey, hey, oh oh
Lyrics © Tratore, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Jorge Lima Menezes
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Richard Tkacz
my dad tells when he first heard this playing on a juke box in a basement student lounge at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ The haunting vocals and rythyms stay in your soul for a lifetime he says. He returned to that smoke filled student lounge over and over in hopes of hearing someone play that song again, so he could ask someone the name of it. My dad put himself through college playing piano , sax, guitar and bass, for 12 years professionally. So my brother and I grew up to the incredible music of the 60s and 70s like this song. Brings back memories for me too. Thanks for posting.
Marion Schoeller
Like! Still have this album! Still love it!
helenatroiaaa
Chove Chuva Chove sem parar... Pois eu vou fazer uma prece Prá Deus, nosso Senhor Prá chuva parar De molhar o meu divino amor... Que é muito lindo É mais que o infinito É puro e belo Inocente como a flor... Por favor, chuva ruim Não molhe mais O meu amor assim... Chove Chuva Chove sem parar...
Jorge Mario Rodas
Grazias per donar-me la lletra. Salut!
Robert Henry
One of my favorite tracks to listen to. Never really dug the other Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66 stuff but this is pure gold. Especially now. Thank you Brasil 66 for making me happy.
Eric Seal
An excellent album. I listened to this whole record very often in the 80's, but specifically this song and "For Me." Love it!!
Bob Whitworth
Gotta love this awesome track! Mid-60s bossa-nova, with a hint of sitar. Very clever.
Angela Andrade dos Santos Silva
Nossa essa música e muito linda 😊
Jorge Mario Rodas
This one has such a cool rhythm combined with good lyrics and great voices and music. Very good to hear some fifty years later, as it is timeless really.
Fabio Garone
Sergio Mendes é muito bom. Que ritmo fantástico.