Blecaute

Blecaute earned widespread acclaim as a singer and composer whose Carnival successes included the 1949 samba “General da Banda” (Tancredo Silva/Sátiro de Mello/José Alcides), widely regarded as his greatest hit. Other notable recordings from his catalog comprise “O Pedreiro Valdemar” (Wilson Batista/Roberto Martins, 1949), “Papai Adão” (Armando Cavalcanti/Klecius Caldas, 1951), “Maria Candelária” (Armando Cavalcanti/Klecius Caldas, 1952), “Piada de Salão” (Armando Cavalcanti/Klecius Caldas, 1954), “Maria Escandalosa” (Armando Cavalcanti/Klecius Caldas, 1955), “Chora, Doutor” (J. Piedade/Orlando Guzzano/J. Campos, 1959), “Samba do Iê-Iê-Iê” (Estanislau Silva/William Duba/Rosa de Oliveira, 1963), “Quero Morrer no Rio” (1965), “Bloco de Banana” (Blecaute, 1969), and “Teresinha Copa 70” (Marli de Oliveira/Gatinho). His first appearance as a vocalist took place in 1933 on Rádio Tupi. Rádio Difusora engaged him in 1941, at which point he took the stage name Black-Out, later rendered in Portuguese as Blecaute. From 1942 through 1943 he appeared on the Carioca stations Tamoio, Mauá, and Nacional. His debut album appeared in 1944, the same year he performed in the motion picture Tristezas Não Pagam Dívidas.