Biography
Since the 1950s Lenita Bruno ranked among Rádio Nacional’s leading voices and maintained close ties to American repertoire. Her pivotal role in bossa nova stems from becoming the first singer to commit “Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar,” “Por Toda a Minha Vida,” “Sem Você,” and “Soneto da Separação” to disc on the 1959 album Por Toda a Minha Vida. She launched her career by entering and repeatedly winning amateur contests staged by Rádio Nacional and Rádio Cruzeiro do Sul. In 1946 she secured her initial professional engagement at Rádio Mayrink Veiga, where she appeared as Dick Farney’s duet partner on his regular program. Bruno cultivated a specialty in English-language pop and jazz standards, enjoying sustained popularity through the early 1950s on Rádio Nacional with numbers such as Irving Berlin’s “Always,” Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s “Tonight,” and George and Ira Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me,” as well as selections drawn from operettas. Her debut long-player appeared in 1952 and featured the tracks “Um Domingo no Jardim de Allah” and “Enquanto Houver,” both credited to Lírio Panicali and Evaldo Rui. Marriage to conductor Leo Peracchi, who supplied the orchestrations for the stage production Orfeu da Conceição, brought her into contact with Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes in 1957. Jobim subsequently asked her to record the 1959 LP Por Toda a Minha Vida, an anthology of Jobim and Moraes material scored by Peracchi. Four years later Bruno traveled to New York, where she made the album Lenita Bruno em Hollywood, consisting solely of Brazilian compositions and supported by Laurindo de Almeida, Clare Fischer, and Bud Schank. While in the United States she also joined José Feliciano for a televised special and cut the additional album Work of Love with Schank. After returning to Brazil her final performances comprised the concert Tribute to Mário de Andrade at Sala Funarte, the Seis e Meia presentation Tom Jobim, Popular Ou Clássico?, and the 1986 solo program Para Amar e Sofrer.
Albums
