Vanusa

Vanusa emerged as a leading figure in the Jovem Guarda movement while assembling a solo catalog that surpassed twenty albums. She launched her professional singing career at sixteen inside a regional dance ensemble in Minas Gerais. As the movement gained momentum, her vocal timbre and appearance cast her as the natural counterpart to Wanderléa. After settling in São Paulo she appeared on the Excelsior variety program O Bom. The song “Pra Nunca Mais Chorar,” written by Carlos Imperial and Eduardo Araújo, became her first chart success. Although she performed on numerous television programs, her strongest commercial impact during the seventies arrived with “Manhãs de Setembro,” co-authored with Mário Campana. The 1977 Belchior composition “Paralelas” also found wide favor. Festival stages abroad brought additional attention: at Uruguay’s Piriapolis Festival in 1974 she received the Feminine Revelation award; at South Korea’s Seoul Festival in 1980 she finished third with the Vanusa–Augusto César Vanucci piece “Mágica Loucura”; and at Chile’s Golden Star Festival in Viña del Mar in 1991 she placed fifth with “Quando o Amor Termina,” written with Sérgio Augusto. In 1997 the São Paulo production Ninguém É Loura por Acaso opened to the public.