Caetano Veloso

Caetano Veloso (born 7 August, 1942) is one of the most popular and influential Brazilian composers and singers. He was born in Salvador, Bahia. He began his career singing bossa nova but soon helped invent a musical style known as MPB (musica popular brasileira), moving the sound of Brazilian pop towards a politically activist and socially aware scene, associated with the late 1960s hippie movement and his tropicalismo recordings.

Veloso's politically active stance, unapologetically leftist, earned him the enmity of Brazil's military dictatorship which ruled until 1984; his songs were frequently censored, and some were banned. Veloso, and fellow pioneer Gilberto Gil, spent several months in jail for "anti-government activity" in 1968 and eventually exiled themselves to London.

In the 1980s, Veloso's popularity outside Brazil grew, especially in Israel, France and Africa. By 2004, he was one of the most respected and prolific Latin pop stars throughout the world, with more than fifty recordings available. In 2002 Veloso published an account of the Tropicalia movement, "Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil."