Milton Nascimento

Milton Nascimento was born on October 26, 1942, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His birth mother, Maria do Carmo Nascimento, worked at a boardinghouse owned by Augusta Silva and died of tuberculosis before Milton turned two. His maternal grandmother took him to Juiz de Fora before Lília Silva Campos, a daughter of Augusta, requested the adoption. Lília and her husband, Josino de Brito Campos, raised him in Três Pontas, Minas Gerais. Lília taught music and had studied piano with Heitor Villa-Lobos. She gave Milton a small accordion during childhood; he later took up harmonica and guitar and learned piano from Walda Tiso Veiga, the mother of neighborhood friend Wagner Tiso.

Josino worked at a bank and helped establish Rádio Clube de Três Pontas, where Nascimento later worked as a disc jockey. He completed lower secondary school and pursued accounting studies while singing at local dances. In 1957, Nascimento and Tiso formed Luar de Prata, a vocal group named after a guitar model used by Nascimento. When Tiso moved to Alfenas for further schooling, he invited Nascimento into the W’s Boys, a dance band whose members adopted names beginning with W. Nascimento performed as “Wilton” and began writing songs with Tiso.

In 1963, Nascimento followed Tiso to Belo Horizonte, where he found work as a typist. The pair teamed with singer Marilton Borges in Conjunto Holiday, led by drummer Rogério Lacerda. The band played dances at Clube Cruzeiro and cut the 1964 Dex EP Barulho de Trem in São Paulo, with Nascimento on guitar and vocals. He wrote the title track and co-wrote “Aconteceu” with Tiso. Nascimento also played contrabass with pianist Tiso and drummer Paulinho Braga in the Berimbau Trio, named after their Belo Horizonte jazz club.

Marilton introduced Nascimento to the Borges family at their apartment in Edifício Levy. The two rehearsed there with Tiso and drummer Marcelo Ferrari in Evolussamba, a vocal-instrumental quartet. Nascimento also befriended Márcio, the younger brother of Marilton. In 1964, Nascimento and Márcio watched three consecutive screenings of the François Truffaut film Jules et Jim at Cine Metrópole. They returned to Edifício Levy and composed “Novena,” “Crença,” and “Gira Girou.”

In 1965, composer Pacífico Mascarenhas recruited Nascimento for the Rio sessions on Muito pra Frente, an Odeon LP by Quarteto Sambacana. Nascimento sang lead with vocalists Gileno Tiso and Sérgio Salles and singer-arranger Marcos de Castro. He also cut the first version of “Canção do Sal” with the Aécio Flávio Sexteto for the Festival Records anthology Música Popular Brasileira em Expansão. The Berimbau Trio contributed “Tamba” and “Chegança” to the same LP.

At a Rio gathering hosted by singer Luiza, Elis Regina heard Nascimento and Tiso perform “Aconteceu.” Regina reconnected with Nascimento after his fourth-place finish with the Baden Powell–Lula Freire composition “Cidade Vazia” at the 1966 TV Excelsior Festival Nacional de Música Popular Brasileira. She invited Nascimento to present his songs at her home and selected “Canção do Sal” for her 1966 Philips album Elis.

Nascimento also befriended Belo Horizonte law student Fernando Brant, whom he persuaded to write the lyrics for “Travessia,” their first collaboration. After the Excelsior festival, Nascimento stayed in São Paulo, where singer Agostinho dos Santos heard him at a nightclub. Agostinho approached Nascimento about contributing material to a proposed album and persuaded him to tape “Travessia,” “Morro Velho,” and “Maria, Minha Fé.”

Without informing Nascimento, Agostinho entered all three songs in the 1967 TV Globo II Festival Internacional da Canção. Arranger Eumir Deodato helped secure their acceptance during preliminary judging. Nascimento placed second with “Travessia” and seventh with “Morro Velho,” while Agostinho performed “Maria, Minha Fé” among the finalists. Nascimento also earned the best-interpreter award at Maracanãzinho. Nilton Vale produced the 1967 Ritmos/Codil debut Milton Nascimento, with arrangements by Deodato and Tamba 4 pianist Luiz Eça.