Francisco Alves

Francisco Alves ranks among the most commercially dominant vocalists ever to emerge in Brazil. Over a 35-year run cut short by a fatal car crash, he cut more 78 rpm discs there than any other performer, issuing 526 albums that contained 983 tracks in total. As a songwriter he is credited with roughly 132 pieces, although many were later shown to have been purchased outright from other authors; even so, a single authenticated composition, his trademark “A Voz do Violão” written with Horácio Campos, suffices to secure his place in that realm. Born to a Portuguese immigrant who played bombardon in his spare time, the future star—known to audiences as Chico Alves—was already singled out for his voice in childhood, yet he held a succession of modest posts as shoeshiner, hatmaker, and taxi driver before fame arrived. His professional stage debut came in 1918 with the theatrical troupe run by actors João de Deus and João Martins. The following year he entered a studio for the first time at the invitation of João Gonzaga—reputed son of the conductor Chiquinha Gonzaga and proprietor of the short-lived label Popular—cutting two discs that featured the marcha “O Pé de Anjo” and the sambas “Fala Meu Louro” and “Alivia Estes Olhos,” all supplied by Sinhô, who also sat in as accompanist. “O Pé de Anjo” figured prominently in the post-“Pelo Telefone” rivalry between Bahian and Carioca factions and became the principal Carnival success of 1920, while the remaining numbers likewise scored that season. Alves went on to record three further Popular releases containing eight songs before the company folded after less than a year of negligible sales. Recommended by José Segreto, he joined the roster at Teatro São José, sharing bills with Vicente Celestino—whose style he had previously emulated—and Otília Amorim. Rising demand led him to move between theatrical companies in quick succession. In 1927 Freire Júnior steered him to Odeon, where he produced 11 mechanical-process albums holding 19 songs; that July the label became the first in Brazil to adopt electromagnetic recording, and Alves was its inaugural artist in that format with the marcha “Albertina” and the samba “Passarinho do Má,” both by Duque. He soon began sessions for Odeon’s subsidiary Parlophon under the alias Chico Viola. The year 1928 brought encounters with the Estácio sambistas Ismael Silva, from whom he acquired “Me Faz Carinhos,” and Bide, source of “A Malandragem”; these contacts blossomed into friendships with the wider Estácio circle, and Alves marched with their neighborhood rancho Deixa Falar during Carnival. His close bond with Ismael Silva resulted in near-complete recordings of the latter’s output—frequently co-written with Nilton Bastos—through 1935. Radio work began in 1929 at Rádio Sociedade, by which time Alves already commanded enormous popularity. He appeared in Buenos Aires in 1930 and that same year formed a duo with Mário Reis that yielded 12 notable sides. A second Argentine visit followed in 1931, again with Mário Reis and now joined by Carmen Miranda on her maiden international outing, along with Luperce Miranda and Tute. In 1933 he joined Carmen Miranda and Mário Reis at Rádio Mayrink Veiga; his discs supplied the soundtrack for the film Voz do Carnaval directed by Ademar Gonzaga. Switching to RCA Victor in 1934, he remained there until 1937, undertook a southern tour accompanied by Noel Rosa, Mário Reis, and Nonô on piano, and hosted his own program on Rádio Cajuti that introduced Orlando Silva, soon to rival him in public esteem. Screen work commenced with Alô, Alô, Brasil (Wallace Downey/João de Barro/Alberto Ribeiro, 1935) and continued through Alô, Alô, Carnaval (Ademar Gonzaga, 1936), Laranja da China (J. Rui, 1940), and five features helmed by Luís de Barros: Samba em Berlim (1943), Berlim na Batucada (1944), Pif-Paf (1945), Caídos do Céu (1946), and Esta é Fina (1948). Two months were spent at Radio El Mundo in Buenos Aires in 1936, where Alves brought along Alzirinha Camargo and Benedito Lacerda. He returned to Odeon from 1937 to 1939, then inaugurated the samba-exaltação style with Ary Barroso’s “Aquarela do Brasil.” That year he moved to Columbia, recording 14 albums there until July 1941, when he rejoined Odeon for the remainder of his life, adding four final sides for RCA Victor shortly before the accident. In 1941 he also signed with Rádio Nacional, his home until his death. His story later reached the screen in Chico Viola Não Morreu (1955), and an autobiography titled Chico Viola, co-written with his partner since 1940, David Nasser—with whom he composed 20 songs—was published in 1966.