Biography
Mariana Secca, a Portuguese composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, records under the professional name MARO. Songs shaped by her velvety, arid alto appear chiefly in Portuguese and English. Three volumes of her 22-track, self-titled debut arrived in 2018; the same year she also issued the duo project Maro & Manel alongside Manuel Rocha and the nine-track solo collection It’s OK, an English-language set of electro-acoustic folk songs. Much of 2019 found her alongside Jacob Collier on Djesse, Vol. 2. Guest spots on recordings by Gerald Clayton and the production duo Odesza followed in 2021, while the EP Pirilampo documented her work with Nasaya. The 14-track duo album Can You See Me?, written and produced with John Blanda, surfaced in 2022. Sony released Hortelã in 2023.
Born Mariana Brito da Cruz Forjaz Secca in Lisbon, Portugal, she began classical piano lessons at age four. Her first song appeared at 11; at 12 she taught herself guitar, an instrument central to her writing. After attending a music conservatory through high school, she earned both her diploma and degree at 17. Early listening encompassed the Beatles, Les Mystere de Voix Bulgares, and Milton Nascimento. During those high-school years she also discovered her own singing voice and took up electric bass.
At 20 she gained admission to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, funded by a European Tour Scholarship plus three Portuguese government awards. After receiving a Professional Musician degree in 2017 she relocated to New York the next year and immediately began writing her debut album. In Los Angeles she encountered numerous artists, among them Jacob Collier, who sensed at once that his ensemble required her presence. Drawn to both her guitar work and harmonic writing, he asked her to join him on stage and in the studio. The 22-track debut itself appeared across three installments—MARO, Vol. 1 in March, MARO, Vol. 2 in April, and MARO, Vol. 3 in June—while the jazzy “Nao Fez Sentido” from the first volume and “Flying to L.A.” featuring Lisa Oduor-Noah from the second both registered on streaming charts. October brought the 11-song Maro & Manel with Colombian singer-songwriter Manuel Rocha and the all-English It’s OK, released after she signed a management agreement with Quincy Jones.
She spent 2019 traversing Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia with Collier and contributed to Djesse, Vol. 2. MARO maintains an instinctive knack for engaging, encouraging, and energizing fellow musicians worldwide through her openness to fresh projects, a quality she exercised freely during the COVID-19 pandemic by launching the online duet series It’s Me, Maro and sharing the videos on social platforms. Retaining that collaborative impulse into 2021, she accepted or extended numerous invitations. The track “Walk Above the City” with indie rockers the Paper Kites surpassed 15 million streams and reached the indie charts. June saw her first joint effort with Nasaya, “Tempo,” also chart on streaming services; the pair then released the four-track Pirilampo EP, which likewise appeared on indie streaming lists.
In March 2022 she joined U.S. production duo Odesza (Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight) on “Better Now,” the B-side of their single “The Last Goodbye” featuring Bettye LaVette; despite its secondary status the cut accumulated more than 40 million streams. She simultaneously offered a live-in-studio English version of “Saudade, Saudade.” The year closed with Can You See Me?, a collection of surreal indie pop and R&B co-written and produced with John Blanda that earned widespread critical praise. In November she, Blanda, Pedro Altério, and Gabriel Altério performed radically rearranged versions of six album tracks for Brazil’s Musica Ilumina Sonasterio television series. Representing Portugal at Eurovision, she performed the original “Saudade, Saudade” with five backing singers and finished ninth in the final.
April 2023 brought Hortelã, her first album distributed by Sony. The gentle 14-song set yielded two indie-chart singles, “We’ve Been Loving in Silence” and “Am I Not Enough for Now?” The recording also realized a long-held ambition when longtime idol Milton Nascimento joined her on the sole Portuguese-language track, “Juro Que Vi Flores.” A remix EP of the Eurovision entry “Saudade, Saudade” followed, featuring Estonia’s NOËP, Portugal’s Diogo Piçarra, and fellow Berklee graduate Carbeau (Tommaso Taddonio). Three further 2023 singles documented additional partnerships: “Isso” with Portuguese singer Isaura (Santos), the acoustic duet “Sonhos & Ilusões” with Julia Mestre, and the a cappella “Estrelas e Raiz” alongside Spanish songwriter Silvia Perez Cruz and Catalonian Rita Payés. January 2024 continued the pattern with the duet “No Ho Has Entes” recorded alongside Spanish rocker Pol Batlle.
Born Mariana Brito da Cruz Forjaz Secca in Lisbon, Portugal, she began classical piano lessons at age four. Her first song appeared at 11; at 12 she taught herself guitar, an instrument central to her writing. After attending a music conservatory through high school, she earned both her diploma and degree at 17. Early listening encompassed the Beatles, Les Mystere de Voix Bulgares, and Milton Nascimento. During those high-school years she also discovered her own singing voice and took up electric bass.
At 20 she gained admission to Boston’s Berklee College of Music, funded by a European Tour Scholarship plus three Portuguese government awards. After receiving a Professional Musician degree in 2017 she relocated to New York the next year and immediately began writing her debut album. In Los Angeles she encountered numerous artists, among them Jacob Collier, who sensed at once that his ensemble required her presence. Drawn to both her guitar work and harmonic writing, he asked her to join him on stage and in the studio. The 22-track debut itself appeared across three installments—MARO, Vol. 1 in March, MARO, Vol. 2 in April, and MARO, Vol. 3 in June—while the jazzy “Nao Fez Sentido” from the first volume and “Flying to L.A.” featuring Lisa Oduor-Noah from the second both registered on streaming charts. October brought the 11-song Maro & Manel with Colombian singer-songwriter Manuel Rocha and the all-English It’s OK, released after she signed a management agreement with Quincy Jones.
She spent 2019 traversing Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia with Collier and contributed to Djesse, Vol. 2. MARO maintains an instinctive knack for engaging, encouraging, and energizing fellow musicians worldwide through her openness to fresh projects, a quality she exercised freely during the COVID-19 pandemic by launching the online duet series It’s Me, Maro and sharing the videos on social platforms. Retaining that collaborative impulse into 2021, she accepted or extended numerous invitations. The track “Walk Above the City” with indie rockers the Paper Kites surpassed 15 million streams and reached the indie charts. June saw her first joint effort with Nasaya, “Tempo,” also chart on streaming services; the pair then released the four-track Pirilampo EP, which likewise appeared on indie streaming lists.
In March 2022 she joined U.S. production duo Odesza (Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight) on “Better Now,” the B-side of their single “The Last Goodbye” featuring Bettye LaVette; despite its secondary status the cut accumulated more than 40 million streams. She simultaneously offered a live-in-studio English version of “Saudade, Saudade.” The year closed with Can You See Me?, a collection of surreal indie pop and R&B co-written and produced with John Blanda that earned widespread critical praise. In November she, Blanda, Pedro Altério, and Gabriel Altério performed radically rearranged versions of six album tracks for Brazil’s Musica Ilumina Sonasterio television series. Representing Portugal at Eurovision, she performed the original “Saudade, Saudade” with five backing singers and finished ninth in the final.
April 2023 brought Hortelã, her first album distributed by Sony. The gentle 14-song set yielded two indie-chart singles, “We’ve Been Loving in Silence” and “Am I Not Enough for Now?” The recording also realized a long-held ambition when longtime idol Milton Nascimento joined her on the sole Portuguese-language track, “Juro Que Vi Flores.” A remix EP of the Eurovision entry “Saudade, Saudade” followed, featuring Estonia’s NOËP, Portugal’s Diogo Piçarra, and fellow Berklee graduate Carbeau (Tommaso Taddonio). Three further 2023 singles documented additional partnerships: “Isso” with Portuguese singer Isaura (Santos), the acoustic duet “Sonhos & Ilusões” with Julia Mestre, and the a cappella “Estrelas e Raiz” alongside Spanish songwriter Silvia Perez Cruz and Catalonian Rita Payés. January 2024 continued the pattern with the duet “No Ho Has Entes” recorded alongside Spanish rocker Pol Batlle.
Albums