Beto

Born Albertino João Santos Pereira on December 28, 1966, in Peniche, Portugal, the romantic pop vocalist Beto achieved his greatest renown through theme songs written for telenovelas. At age 17 he relocated to Torres Vedras intent on building a professional music career, and in 1998 he was selected to represent Portugal at the Festival da OTI in Costa Rica. His first major commercial opportunity arrived in 2000 with the duets album Desencontros, recorded alongside pop singer Rita Guerra; the project yielded the hit single “Brincando com o Fogo.” Three years later Beto issued his debut solo album, Olhar em Frente, which reached the Top Ten on the Portuguese albums chart largely on the strength of three telenovela themes: “Memórias Esquecidas” from Coração Malandro, “Dois Corações Unidos” from Nunca Digas Adeus, and “Tudo por Amor” from Tudo por Amor. The same collection continued to appear on the charts intermittently for several years afterward. His next studio effort, Influências, climbed to the Top Five in 2005, yet the subsequent releases Porto de Abrigo in 2006 and Por Minha Conta e Risco in 2008 registered sharply reduced sales. In response to the downturn, Farol Musica assembled the 2009 retrospective O Melhor de Beto. Shortly after the Top 20 duets collection Cumplicidade a Duas Vozes, comprising cover material recorded with Ménito, appeared in 2010, Beto was discovered deceased in his hotel room in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, on May 23 of that year. Issued in the wake of his passing, the double-disc anthology Grandes Êxitos reached the Top Ten later in 2010.