Eumir Deodato

Eumir Deodato de Almeida (; born 22 June 1942) is a Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger and record producer, primarily in jazz but who has been known for his eclectic melding of genres, such as pop, rock, disco, rhythm and blues, classical, Latin and bossa nova.

Deodato has arranged and produced more than 500 records for acts such as Frank Sinatra, Roberta Flack, Björk and Christophe, as well as produced Kool & the Gang's hits "Celebration", "Ladies' Night" and "Too Hot".

Deodato was nominated for three Grammy Awards and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1974 for "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)." The song peaked at number 2 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 in March 1973. It reached number 3 in Canada and number 7 on the British charts.

Career

Recording career

Deodato often plays the Fender Rhodes electric piano. He became successful as a keyboard player in the 1970s. Since then, he has produced and arranged music on more than 500 albums for artists such as Kool & the Gang, Con Funk Shun, Björk, Christophe, Ithamara Koorax and k.d. lang. Guitarist John Tropea and flautist Hubert Laws appeared on his early albums.

Prelude, his first album in the U.S., was released in 1973. His track Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) scored a big hit on the Billboard pop chart. This album was crossover music style that attracted a large audience and was produced by Creed Taylor for his label CTI. The album sold 5 million copies worldwide and earned Deodato the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for the track Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) as well as a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. His interpretation of Pavane pour une infante défunte ("Pavane for a Dead Princess") by Maurice Ravel was used in the 1970s by an Australian television station as background music.

In 1978, he had an orchestral hit with "Whistle Bump" from the LP titled Love Island. The track promoted the widespread use of whistles in nightclubs at the time. However, his popularity in the discos was solidified when he released the 1979 single Night Cruiser from the album of the same name, which earned him a third Grammy nomination for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Deodato continued recording through the 1980s. In 1985, he had two hits, "S.O.S., Fire in the Sky" and "Are You For Real", on Billboard magazine's top 20 Dance chart. He has been credited for helping to start the career of Milton Nascimento; Deodato was part of a committee tasked with choosing songs for the Festival Internacional da Canção and chose three by Nascimento. Their granddaughter Hailey Bieber is married to Canadian singer Justin Bieber.

Discography

Albums

{| class="wikitable"

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album

! scope="col" colspan="5"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Label

! style="width:40px;"| US Pop

! style="width:40px;"| US R&B

! style="width:40px;"| AUS

! style="width:40px;"| CAN

| rowspan="3"| 1964

| Inútil Paisagem

| align=center | ―

| Forma

| Ideias...

| align=center | ―

| Odeon

| Samba Nova Concepção

| align=center | ―

| Equipe

| rowspan="2"| 1965

| Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers

| align=center | ―

| London Globe

| The Gentle Rain

| align=center | ―

| Mercury

| 1972

| Percepção

| align=center | ―

| London

| rowspan="4"| 1973

| Prelude

! style="width:40px;"| CAN Pop

! style="width:40px;"| CAN AC

! style="width:40px;"| CAN Dance

| rowspan="2"| 1973

| "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)" / "Spirit of Summer"

| align=center | 2

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 5

| align=center | 4

| align=center | 7

| align=center | 3

| align=center | 22

| align=center | ―

| "Rhapsody in Blue" / "Super Strut"

| align=center | 41

| align=center | 42

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 42

| align=center | —

| align=center | 48

| align=center | 13

| align=center | ―

| rowspan="2"| 1974

| "Do It Again" (live) / "Branches" (live) (B-side is by Airto)

| align=center | ―

| "Moonlight Serenade" / "Havana Strut"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 83

| align=center | —

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 5

| align=center | ―

| 1975

| "Caravan" / "Watusi Strut"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 3

| align=center | ―

| 1976

| "Theme from Peter Gunn" / "Amani"

| align=center | 84

| align=center | 96

| align=center | 20

| align=center | ―

| rowspan="2"| 1978

| "Pina Colada" / "Love Island"

| align=center | ―

| "Whistle Bump" / "Love Island"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 81

| align=center | 8

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 1

| 1979

| "Shazam" / "Space Dust"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 71

| align=center | ―

| rowspan="2"| 1980

| "Night Cruiser" / "Groovation"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 23

| align=center | ―

| "East Side Strut" / "Uncle Funk"

| align=center | ―

| rowspan="2"| 1982

| "Keep It in the Family" / "Keep on Movin'"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 41

| align=center | ―

| "Happy Hour" / "Sweet Magic"

| align=center | 70

| align=center | 44

| align=center | ―

| rowspan="2"| 1984

| "S.O.S. Fire in the Sky" / "East Side Strut"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 6

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 77

| align=center | ―

| "Are You for Real" / "Motion"

| align=center | ―

| align=center | 17

| align=center | ―

| 1989

| "Everybody Wants My Girl" (featuring Tom Hammer)

| align=center | ―

| 2010

| "Double Face" (feat. Al Jarreau) (UK only release)

| align=center | ―

| colspan="11" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Career

Recording career

Discography

Albums

References

External links