14 Facts About Johnny Alf

Alfredo Jose da Silva, popularly known as Johnny Alf, was a Brazilian musician, sometimes known as the "Father of Bossa Nova".

Johnny Alf's father died when he was 3 and he was raised by his mother, who worked as a maid to raise him.

Johnny Alf attended Colegio Pedro II, receiving support from his mother's employers.

Johnny Alf played in nightclubs in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio, where he was noticed by later bossa nova pioneers.

Johnny Alf died in 2010, aged 80, from prostate cancer.

Johnny Alf's mother raised him alone, making a living as a maid.

Johnny Alf found employment with a family in Tijuca, a quarter close to the centre of Rio.

In 1950 the death of the mother of two of the founding members stranded the club without a rehearsal headquarters and it was at this point that Johnny Alf began to pursue a professional musical career.

For two years Johnny Alf contented himself with ephemeral engagements at clubs including the Monte Carlo in Gavea, the Clube da Chave, the Mandarim, and the Drink before settling at the Hotel Plaza nightclub in 1954.

Johnny Alf was able to play his own early compositions in a professional setting as well as the compositions of his colleagues and fellow innovators.

Once again Johnny Alf found himself pounding the pavement on a nightly basis in search of steady work and, while he never starved he began to stagnate musically.

The musicians Johnny Alf had left in Rio had continued to innovate in his absence while he himself had had no time for anything more than the work required to earn his daily wages.

That same year Johnny Alf, who had never been fond of the term Bossa Nova, and had always tried to distance himself from the connotations the title entailed, declined an invitation to play at Carnegie Hall's historic Bossa Nova Festival.

Johnny Alf died on March 4,2010, in Santo Andre, Brazil of complications caused by prostate cancer.