28 Facts About Caetano Veloso

1.

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist.

2.

Caetano Veloso has remained a constant creative influence and best-selling performing artist and composer ever since.

3.

Caetano Veloso has won nine Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards.

4.

On November 14,2012, Caetano Veloso was honored as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.

5.

Caetano Veloso was born in the city of Santo Amaro da Purificacao, in Bahia, a state in the eastern area of Brazil, but moved to Salvador, the state capital, as a college student in the mid-1960s.

6.

In 1972, Caetano Veloso moved back to his home country and began recording and performing.

7.

Caetano Veloso later became popular outside Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s.

8.

Caetano Veloso's childhood was influenced greatly by artistic endeavors: he was interested in both literature and filmmaking as a child, but focused mainly on music.

9.

Caetano Veloso moved to the Bahian port city of Salvador as a teenager, the city in which Gilberto lived, and a center of Afro-Brazilian culture and music.

10.

In 1965, Caetano Veloso moved again to Rio de Janeiro, with his sister Maria Bethania, a musician.

11.

Shortly after the move, Caetano Veloso won a lyrics contest for his composition "Um Dia" and was signed to Philips Records.

12.

On October 21,1967, Caetano Veloso won fourth prize and gained a standing ovation at the third annual Brazil Popular Music Festival with his song "Alegria, Alegria".

13.

Caetano Veloso describes the movement as a wish to be different - not "defensive" like the right-wing Brazilian military government, which vehemently opposed the movement.

14.

Caetano Veloso then stopped singing and launched into an impassioned monologue, in which he excoriated the students for their conservatism.

15.

Caetano Veloso studied philosophy at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, which influenced both his artistic expression and viewpoint on life.

16.

Caetano Veloso's popularity grew outside Brazil in the 1980s, especially in Greece, Portugal, France, and Africa.

17.

Caetano Veloso's records released in the United States, such as Estrangeiro, helped gain him a larger audience.

18.

In 2002 Caetano Veloso published an account of his early years and the Tropicalismo movement, Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil.

19.

Caetano Veloso has contributed songs to two AIDS benefit compilation albums produced by the Red Hot Organization: Red Hot + Rio and Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon.

20.

On November 14,2012, Caetano Veloso was honored as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.

21.

In January 2016, Caetano Veloso was a featured artist at the convention of the Modern Language Association, in Austin, Texas.

22.

In May 2018, Caetano Veloso performed at the Grand Final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, alongside 2017 winner Salvador Sobral.

23.

Caetano Veloso married fellow Baiana and actress Andrea Gadelha on November 21,1967, in a ceremony that reflected the air of the counterculture era.

24.

Caetano Veloso is one of the few public atheist celebrities in Brazil.

25.

Caetano Veloso was brought up in a religious Catholic family but left the faith early on.

26.

In 2022 Caetano Veloso talked about his bisexuality in a show commemorating his 80th birthday.

27.

Caetano Veloso has cited among his musical influences Amalia Rodrigues, Cole Porter, the Rolling Stones 1969 tour, and above all, Joao Gilberto.

28.

Caetano Veloso says that he is unable to make a comparison between his musical style in the 1960s, at the height of Tropicalia, and his current work.