Elis Regina Carvalho Costa is one of Brazil’s most celebrated female singers, and one of its most famous MPB performers. Born in 1945 in the capital of the southernmost state in Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, she began her career early at age eleven, when she performed on a children’s radio show. She recorded her first song at age sixteen. She was then hired by a radio station in Porto Alegre, but traveled to Rio de Janeiro to begin recording.

In 1961, she recorded her first record, Viva a Brotolândia, followed by three more. She sang bossa nova, a mix of jazz and samba, and MPB, Brazilian popu music. She began performing in Sao Paulo and Rio and in 1964 she was hired to perform on a popular TV program in Rio. She met her husband on the show, Ronaldo Bôscoli, who she married in 1967. The same year, she released a new record, Dois na Bossa, which was the first Brazilian record to sell more than a million copies. She was nicknamed Pimentinha, or Little Pepper, by her colleagues.

She achieved great success as a performer and recording artist in the 1970s with many live shows, new records, and TV show appearances. She was also an outspoken opponent of the military dictatorship, taking a great risk in her vocal opposition to the government.

Tragically, Elis died young at the age of thirty six, after overdosing on a mixture of cocaine, tranquilizers and alcohol. She is still celebrated as one of Brazil’s greatest singers.