Biography
Dolores Durán composed timeless staples of the fossa songbook, among them “Se É por Falta de Adeus,” created with Tom Jobim and introduced by Doris Monteiro. Additional enduring pieces include “Por Causa de Você” and “Estrada do Sol,” both fashioned alongside Jobim, together with “Fim de Caso,” “Solidão,” and “Castigo”; she also partnered with Ribamar on “Pela Rua,” “Ternura Antiga,” and “Idéias Erradas.” Performers who committed her material to disc range from Frank Sinatra, who rendered “Por Causa de Você” as “Don’t Ever Go Away” on the album Sinatra & Company, to Milton Nascimento with “A Noite do Meu Bem,” Tito Madi with “Ternura Antiga,” Gal Costa with “Estrada do Sol,” Maysa with “Por Causa de Você,” and Nana Caymmi on the full-length tribute A Noite do Meu Bem/As Canções de Dolores Durán; Marisa Gata Mansa, Lúcio Alves, Maria Bethânia, and numerous other leading vocalists likewise embraced her catalog. Throughout her abbreviated career Durán was recognized chiefly as a vocalist, enjoying acclaim inside Brazil as well as during engagements in Paris, France, Argentina, Uruguay, and the former U.S.S.R. At age ten she appeared on Ary Barroso’s celebrated beginner showcase Calouros em Desfile; the stern critic’s praise led to further broadcast opportunities. Following her father’s death when she was twelve, financial necessity prompted her to turn professional, performing on Rádio Tupi in Rio de Janeiro and in youth productions at the Teatro Carlos Gomes. Her fluency across multiple languages facilitated steady radio work, which in turn secured an engagement at the Vogue nightclub upon her sixteenth birthday—the same moment she adopted her professional moniker. There César de Alencar discovered her and booked her for his program on Rádio Nacional. By then a fixture in the city’s premier nightspots and widely admired by peers and listeners alike, she cut her debut album in 1951, coupling the sambas “Que Bom Será” (Alice Chaves/Salvador Miceli/Paulo Marques) and “Já Não Interessa” (Domício Costa/Roberto Faissal). Her first substantial success arrived only in 1954 with “Canção da Volta” (Antônio Maria/Ismael Neto); that same year she also waxed “Bom É Querer Bem” (Fernando Lobo). The following year brought “Praça Mauá” (Billy Blanco), “Carioca” (Antônio Maria/Ismael Neto), “Pra Que Falar de Mim” (Ismael Neto/Macedo Neto), and “Manias” (Celso Cavalcanti/Flávio Cavalcanti). Still in 1955 she visited Uruguay and penned her initial composition, “Se É por Falta de Adeus” with Tom Jobim, which Doris Monteiro recorded. That year she scored another interpretive hit with “A Fia de Chico Brito” (Chico Anísio) and toured Argentina and Uruguay alongside Bola Sete’s ensemble. In 1957 she and Jobim wrote the classic “Por Causa de Você,” which she recorded the next year; the pair also completed “Estrada do Sol” in 1957. With Jorge Goulart, Nora Ney, and the Conjunto Farroupilha she journeyed to the former U.S.S.R. in 1958, after which she parted from the troupe and remained in Paris for a month-long residency. Upon returning to Brazil she collaborated with Ribamar on the sambas-canções “Quem Sou Eu,” “Pela Rua” (later cut by Tito Madi in 1959), and “Se Eu Tiver,” plus the samba “Idéias Erradas.” “Castigo,” written during the same period, became a hit in Marisa Gata Mansa’s version. In 1959 Durán produced her most celebrated composition, “A Noite do Meu Bem,” which she herself recorded that year. Full recognition of her songwriting arrived only after her passing: Lúcio Alves devoted an entire LP to her works in 1960, and the 1970 production Brasileiro, Profissão Esperança (Paulo Pontes, starring Maria Bethânia and Raul Cortez) placed several of her songs in its soundtrack, inaugurating a series of subsequent homages.
Albums
