AccuRadio Song Of The Day-CeU

Artist:CeU

Song:Lenda

Album:CeU

Brazilian singer CeU (pronounced say-you) mixes Brazilian traditions with contemporary jazz and pop. And since 2016 she has added electronics. Lenda is from her 2005 debut album CeU so she's still acoustic at that point. She was born Maria do Ceu Whitaker Pocas Apr. 17, 1980 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. CeU is the Portuguese word for sky or heaven. Her father is a composer and musicologist. So obviously she grew up listening to Brazilian music and decided to become a singer at age 15. While living in New York for a while, she picked up jazz influences and met composer Antonio Pinto. He scored the Oscar nominated films Central Station (1999) and City of God (2002). He brought in keyboardist Beto Villares and CeU signed with the Brazilian label Urban Jungle. The album CeU was released in 2005. The album was picked up in the US by Six Degrees in 2007 and they made a deal with Starbucks to sell the album in stores. Too bad they don't do that anymore. The increased distribution got them deals with JVC in Japan and Harmonia Mundi in France.  CeU was nominated for a Best Contemporary World Music Album Grammy. This album is available on CD. Since then CeU has been doing very well on Billboard's World Music charts. With the 2016 album Tropix, CeU changed direction by adding electronics from French keyboardist Herve Salters AKA General Elektriks and CeU's drummer husband Pupillo (Romano Menezes de Oliveira Jr.). They produced the album. The album was very successful especially in clubs. So CeU has continued in that musical direction and her latest album Novela was released in April. Here's CeU performing Lenda on a French TV show 2005.