Eliana Pittman

At age 11 Eliana Pittman became the stepdaughter of saxophonist Booker Pittman, whose guidance and encouragement first steered her toward a life in music; he also served as her initial instructor on the subject. Several years afterward she made her professional debut at the Little Club in Rio’s Beco das Garrafas. She traveled to Argentina in 1963 and remained for an engagement at the Philips Casino. Back in Brazil she joined Booker to record the album New Sound Brazil Bossa Nova. After receiving an invitation from Jack Paar to appear on his New York television program, she relocated to the United States with Booker and her mother Ofélia. The Playboy Clubs then booked her for engagements across fourteen states; she came home to Brazil in 1965 and embarked on a nationwide tour. Her breakthrough single arrived in 1966 with the Niltinho composition “Tristeza.” A stretch of depression brought on by her stepfather’s grave illness preceded her return to performing via the album É Preciso Cantar and a matching production staged at Rio’s Teatro de Bolso. With her 1967 version of “O Mundo Encantado de Monteiro Lobato,” first staged by Mangueira that same year, Eliana achieved the first commercially successful samba-enredo. Between 1968 and 1971 she performed in Argentina, Venezuela, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, Italy, France, and Spain. While in Cannes she and Sacha Distel were named official hosts of MIDEM. During those travels she also took an acting role in the French feature Capitães de Areia, a dramatization of Jorge Amado’s life. Another success followed in 1972 when she recorded João Nogueira’s “Esse Mar é Meu.” After periods of withdrawal punctuated by occasional performances, she launched a fresh engagement in Rio during 2001.