Dorival Caymmi Dead At 94

Dorival Caymmi, a pillar of Brazilian popular music, died Saturday at his home in Rio de Janiero. The cause was multiple organ failure. Caymmi was 94. His storied career spanning 60 years and some 20 albums, Caymmi's romantic, sun-drenched, rhythmic style was the prelude to the emergence of bossa nova in the fifites. At 16, he wrote Carmen Miranda's first hit “O Que É Que a Baiana Tem?” (“What Is It About Brazilian Women?”). Songs like “Marina” (1944) and “O Samba da Minha Terra” (1941) inspired the greats of bossa nova. Writing in The New York Times in 2001, music critic Ben Ratliff said Caymmi was perhaps second only to Antonio Carlos Jobim “in establishing a songbook of this century’s Brazilian identity.”

Dorival Caymmi was born on April 30, 1914, in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state. A journalist by profession, Caymmi won a songwriting contest in 1936 as part of Salvador’s carnaval and two years later went to Rio de Janeiro to study law. Instead he went into the music business. He became a regular on Radio Nacional, and his fame grew through his early collaborations with Miranda. Caymmi recorded for five decades, both singing solo with his own guitar accompaniment and velvety baritone and backed by bands and orchestras. His last album was released four years ago.

Caymmi is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, singer Adelaide Tostes, who used the stage name Stella Maris, along with their sons, Dori and Danilo, and their daughter, Nana, who are all also successful musicians.