May 27: Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian singer Ivete Sangalo is 41-years-old today.

 

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Axé and MPB singer, songwriter, and occasional actress and television show host Ivete María Dias de Sangalo Cady was born May 27, 1972 in Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil. She is one of the most popular and best-selling Brazilian female singers of the present, with six albums released with "Banda Eva,” and seven more albums in a solo career. Her music is also very popular in Portugal.

Sangalo is most often recognized by her powerful voice, charisma and live performances.  She has received 14 nominations for Latin Grammy Awards alongside her career.

As a child, started to sing and play guitar at events, festivals and presentations at her school then started singing at bars.

Ivete Sangalo's first professi0nal appearance occured in Ondina Neighborhood, Salvador, in August 1992. With that show she won the Dorival Caymmi trophy, considered the Grammy of Bahia music. Soon, she started to receive some attention and signed with Sony Music.

In 1993, Sony decided to reform the Axé group Banda Eva with Ivete as the lead singer. With Banda Eva, she recorded six CDs and sold over four million copies.  Her live album with the band, Banda Eva Ao Vivo, sold over a million copies.

In 1997 she decided to start a solo career and in 1999 she released her first self-titled album. With lots of upbeat Bahian rhythms and axé, the album received gold and platinum certification.

The following year she released another album, Beat Beleza, which also achieved platinum status. In 2000 she released the album Festa (Party). The lead single was very popular, and the album got platinum certification. "Festa" was her biggest hit single up to that point and "Festa" ended up being the most popular song of 2001 in Brazil.

In June 2009, the singer released her tenth studio album, Pode Entrar, recorded in a studio set up at her home, in Salvador. The project had Sangalo in a more intimate way, entertaining friends at her house, artists for duets and musical partnerships and includes guest stars such as Maria Bethânia, Carlinhos Brown, Lulu Santos and Marcelo Camelo. The album includes the huge summer hits "Cadê Dalila," selected as the "song of the Salvador carnival" in 2009, and "Na Base do Beijo." Both reached No. 1 in the Brazilian charts. The album also features "Agora Eu Já Sei," a romantic song that charted No. 2 in the winter of 2009.This album received three nominations for the 2009 Latin Grammy Awards.

The Brazilian star performed at the Madison Square Garden, New York City, where she recorded her third live DVD, on September 4, 2010. There were four guest stars with whom she sang at her NYC's sold out show: they were Nelly Furtado, Seu Jorge, Juanes and Diego Torres.

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For more about Ivete, visit her Website at –

http://www.ivetesangalo.com/en

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