Carlos Do Carmo

Carlos do Carmo, a Portuguese fado singer whose professional activity stretched across multiple decades, first emerged in the early 1960s and reached his commercial height in the 1970s. Born Carlos Alberto Ascenção de Almeida on December 21, 1939, in Lisbon, Portugal, he is the son of fado legend Lucilia do Carmo. His recording debut arrived in 1963 via two four-song releases on Alvorada: Mário Simões e Seu Quarteto Apresentando Carlos do Carmo and Carlos do Carmo e Orquestra de Joaquim Luiz Gomes. Two years afterward, in 1965, he cut additional four-song releases for Decca titled Fado Razão da Minha Vida and Fados do Meu Coração. Steady growth in popularity led, by 1969, to full-length albums issued on Alvorada, Decca, and Philips. His peak period unfolded throughout the 1970s, when he placed at least one and frequently several albums on the market each year. Although his output gradually diminished thereafter, he retained strong popularity and continued to perform concerts abroad. In subsequent decades many of his releases marked career anniversaries, among them Ao Vivo no CCB: Os Sucessos de 35 Anos de Carreira (1999), Do Tempo do Vinil: 40 Anos de Carreira (2003), Ao Vivo: Coliseu dos Recreios de Lisboa: 40 Anos de Carreira (2004), and Fado Maestro: 45 Anos de Carreira (2008), the last of which climbed into the Top Five of the Portuguese album charts. Studio projects such as À Noite (2007), by contrast, appeared infrequently yet were generally well received.