Elder statesman of Brazilian jazz, bossa nova, and funk lite, Sérgio Mendes is a busy septuagenarian (he even earned an Oscar nom in 2012 for best original song as cowriter of “Real in Rio” from the animated film Rio). Without a doubt, you’ve heard “Mas Que Nada,” Mendes’s signature song—if not the fine 1966 original, then the recording he did with Black Eyed Peas in 2006. Or perhaps you’re familiar with the 1983 soft-rock balladry of “Never Gonna Let You Go”? Yep, that’s him. News to you? News to me, too, and I grew up in the 1980s.



by Leilani Polk