Paulo Diniz

Paulo Lira de Oliveira was born in Pesqueira (PE) in 1940 and began working as a radio announcer at an early age. In Recife, he worked as a shoeshiner, nightclub crooner and drummer, as well as a radio announcer and actor; after a period in Ceará, he arrived in Rio in 1964, where he took to the microphone at Rádio Tupi. He made his recording debut in 1966 on Copacabana with the iê-iê-iê, Brazilian beat music, O Chorão. Quero Voltar pra Bahia, a 1970 Odeon LP, featured the title track and Um Chope pra Distrair, both written with his partner Odibar; the main song paid tribute to Caetano Veloso, then exiled in London. He later set poems by Drummond and Manuel Bandeira to music. He died in Recife in 2022.