Jane Duboc

Jane Duboc has built a long career as a vocalist and songwriter. Appearances on more than one hundred albums have placed her alongside Toninho Horta, Djavan and Sivuca, while Milton Nascimento and Toninho Horta have written multiple pieces expressly for her voice; the same body of work has earned her several professional honors.

Classical piano and acoustic guitar formed the core of her conservatory training from childhood onward, and during those years she directed assorted vocal and instrumental ensembles that performed at school festivals and received notable television exposure.

A scholarship took the seventeen-year-old to Columbus, Georgia, where she spent six years studying piano, violão, voice and flute at the Music College of Georgia University; there she married musician Gay Vaquer and gave birth to their son Jay Vaquer. While in the United States she founded and fronted the Fane Jazz Band, playing violão and guitar while singing, and she also taught Music History at the university. In 1971 she performed “No ano 83” (Sérgio Sampaio) at Rede Globo’s VI FIC.

Returning to Brazil in 1977, she assembled the English-language Group Fein. Raul Seixas, drawn to the social themes of her song “Pollution,” intended to release it as a single, yet censors rejected the lyrics; she therefore recorded the track as a scat vocal. The episode led to further appearances on Raul’s own releases. She next joined arranger, producer and conductor Erlon Chaves’s Banda Veneno, contributing to two albums, and she sang in Rede Globo’s choral ensemble for numerous vignettes and soundtracks while also participating in an album by Chico Anísio. With Gay Vaquer she made the RCA album Mourning the musicians, which featured Luiz Eça, Paulo Moura and Noveli. Soon afterward she toured with Egberto Gismonti on the shows “Água e vinho I e II” and supplied backing vocals and percussion on his album “Tree.” She composed and recorded the soundtrack for the film Janaína, starring Marlene França, and for the play “Encontro no bar,” performed by Camila Amado and Otávio Augusto. Two further albums, Acalantos Brasileiros and Música popular do Norte, appeared on the Marcus Pereira label; the latter was captured live in concert with Elis Regina and Nara Leão. In partnership with Guto Graça Melo she created the score for Bruno Barreto’s Amor bandido.

In 1978 she became a member of the Rio Jazz Orchestra under saxophonist and surgeon Marcos Szpillman, interpreting jazz standards and classic repertoire. Additional credits from that period include recordings by the Motokas, Skates, Claudinha Telles and Roupa Nova, then known as The Fanks. Her debut solo album, Languidez, was issued by Aycha in 1980 and enlisted Hélio Delmiro, Luís Avelar, Osvaldo Montenegro, Toninho Horta, Djavan and Sivuca. That same year she was named best interpreter at Rede Globo’s MPB Shell festival for “Saudade,” securing a contract with Som Livre. The label released the single “Cheiro de Amor,” which quickly became a hit later covered by Maria Betânia; she also recorded with the vocal group Cantamor and completed two additional albums for the company.

The solo album Jane Duboc appeared on Som da Gente in 1982, and she again won best-interpreter honors at São Paulo’s I Festival da Mulher. Later that year “Tentação” (Tunai/Sérgio Natureza) earned strong placement in the MPB Shell festival. In 1983 she contributed “A valsa dos clowns” (Edu Lobo/Chico Buarque) to the Som Livre collection O grande circo místico. The 1985 RCA album Ponto de partida featured guest Toquinho; together they toured Brazil and Italy with the show Doce vida—praised by Elis Regina among others—and recorded its soundtrack in Milan.

A 1986 performance before more than thirty thousand people marked the anniversary celebrations of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Her 1987 Continental release Minas em mim contained original compositions by Milton Nascimento, Toninho Horta and Tavito, arranged by César Camargo Mariano, Chiquinho de Morais and Cido Bianchi. The album signaled a deliberate turn toward more lyrical material aimed at a broader audience. The single “Chama da paixão” reached the national Top Five, and “Sonhos” also became a hit; both tracks, along with her recording of “Besame” (Flávio Venturini/Murilo Antunes), were featured in major Brazilian telenovelas. Subsequent albums include Feliz (1988), Brasiliano (1991, Globo Records), Jane Duboc (1993) and Partituras (1995). In 1992 she received the Prêmio Sharp de Música as best singer.

March 1996 saw her inaugurate a major convention center in Japan alongside saxophonist and conductor Roberto Sion; the concert was documented on the CD From Brazil to Japan, after which they toured the country. In 1997 she collaborated with violonista Sebastião Tapajós on Da minha terra, a tribute to composers from Pará. She has also published the poetry collection Entre paredes and the children’s musicals Jeguelhinho and Bia e Buze.