Biography
Januário de Oliveira concentrated his recording activity at Columbia, laying down 80 of his 113 songs between 1929 and 1938 for that label alone. His radio career opened at Rádio Sociedade, shifted to Rádio Clube do Brasil, and advanced when Sinhô escorted him to São Paulo in 1929, the city that thereafter anchored his professional life.
That same year he cut two Sinhô pieces for Columbia—“Chequerê” and “Nossa Senhora do Brasil,” the latter a tribute to painter Tarsila do Amaral—with the composer at the piano. Once established in São Paulo, Oliveira joined Rádio Educadora Paulista, then Rádio Record, where César Ladeira bestowed the nickname “A Voz de Veludo,” and later Rádio Difusora, where he appeared from 1935 onward on the Programa da Saudade.
Accompanied by its composer, he recorded Heckel Tavares’s “Dança de Caboclo” in 1930 and enjoyed a hit that year with Plínio Brito’s Carnaval marcha “Quebra, Quebra Gabiroba.” After moving to RCA Victor in 1934, he taped the valse “Meu Destino” (José Maria de Abreu/Carlos Rego Barros de Sousa), which found success following its 1935 release.
In 1935 Oliveira starred and sang in Vitório Capelaro’s film Fazendo Fita; during the inauguration of Rádio Farroupilha in Porto Alegre he performed Ary Barroso’s “No Tabuleiro da Baiana” with Carmen Miranda. The next year, duetting with Arnaldo Pescuma, he scored with “Mulatinha da Caserna” (Martinez Grau/Ariovaldo Pires), which won first prize in the marcha category of the São Paulo mayoralty’s Carnaval contest, and with Ary Barroso’s “Paulistinha Querida.”
Also in 1936 he toured southern Brazil with Italian singer Carlo Buti and remained two years in Porto Alegre under contract to Rádio Farroupilha. Returning to São Paulo in 1938, he launched a parallel career as a humorist, delivering his distinctive imitations of baritone, tenor, contralto, and soprano registers on Rádio Nacional, in casinos, and at clubs nationwide throughout the 1940s. In 1949 he became an impresario and retired from performing.
That same year he cut two Sinhô pieces for Columbia—“Chequerê” and “Nossa Senhora do Brasil,” the latter a tribute to painter Tarsila do Amaral—with the composer at the piano. Once established in São Paulo, Oliveira joined Rádio Educadora Paulista, then Rádio Record, where César Ladeira bestowed the nickname “A Voz de Veludo,” and later Rádio Difusora, where he appeared from 1935 onward on the Programa da Saudade.
Accompanied by its composer, he recorded Heckel Tavares’s “Dança de Caboclo” in 1930 and enjoyed a hit that year with Plínio Brito’s Carnaval marcha “Quebra, Quebra Gabiroba.” After moving to RCA Victor in 1934, he taped the valse “Meu Destino” (José Maria de Abreu/Carlos Rego Barros de Sousa), which found success following its 1935 release.
In 1935 Oliveira starred and sang in Vitório Capelaro’s film Fazendo Fita; during the inauguration of Rádio Farroupilha in Porto Alegre he performed Ary Barroso’s “No Tabuleiro da Baiana” with Carmen Miranda. The next year, duetting with Arnaldo Pescuma, he scored with “Mulatinha da Caserna” (Martinez Grau/Ariovaldo Pires), which won first prize in the marcha category of the São Paulo mayoralty’s Carnaval contest, and with Ary Barroso’s “Paulistinha Querida.”
Also in 1936 he toured southern Brazil with Italian singer Carlo Buti and remained two years in Porto Alegre under contract to Rádio Farroupilha. Returning to São Paulo in 1938, he launched a parallel career as a humorist, delivering his distinctive imitations of baritone, tenor, contralto, and soprano registers on Rádio Nacional, in casinos, and at clubs nationwide throughout the 1940s. In 1949 he became an impresario and retired from performing.