Erasmo Carlos, one of the pioneers of rock in Brazil and author of more than 660 songs, the vast majority with his eternal musical partner, Roberto Carlosdied this Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 81.
“Brazilian popular music will forever have an immortal hero in Erasmo Carlos,” said the record company Som Livre, with whom he has worked in recent years.
The singer and songwriter faced various health problemsincluding an oedematous syndrome, a chemical imbalance in blood vessels caused by heart, kidney or vascular disease.
After spending nine days in hospital, he was released at the end of October. But this morning he had to be rushed again to Barra D’or hospital in Rio de Janeiro, where he died after noon of complications from the same disease, Brazilian media reported.
According to a post on his official Facebook page, “Erasmo has been hospitalized since November 2 at Barra D’or hospital with panniculitis complicated by sepsis of cutaneous origin.”
Known as “Tremendao”, Erasmo Carlos lost his life four days after being announced this year’s Latin Grammy Award winner for the best Portuguese-language rock album, “O Futuro Pertence À…Jovem Guarda”, his first Grammy after a career spanning many decades.
Together with Roberto Carlos and the singer Wanderlea, Erasmo Carlos integrated the “Jovem Guarda”a musical movement that mixed rock with Brazilian music and was baptized by a television program of the same name in which the three commanded.
Despite his career as a rocker, Erasmo Carlos became famous for forming a duo for six decades with the “king” Roberto Carlos which resulted in hundreds of songs, known by millions of Brazilians and fans from all over Latin America.
“Erasmo Carlos, far beyond the Jovem Guarda, was a very talented songwriter, author of many of the songs that most moved Brazilians in recent decades. He leaves nostalgia and dozens of songs that will always be in our memories and in the soundtrack of our lives,” said Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, lamenting the artist’s death on his Twitter account.
The news of Erasmo Carlos’ death moved the country’s arts media with dozens of singers expressing their grief on social networks.
“Erasmo was a pure heart, I was very moved when I met him on my last tour in Rio de Janeiro, when I dedicated a show to him. Erasmo will leave many memories, I love you man,” said singer Milton Nascimento.
His death comes just two weeks after the death of singer Gal Costa, one of the greatest voices of Brazilian popular music, muse of tropicalism and who stood out as a member of the legendary “Doces Bárbaros” quartet together with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethany.
Born in 1941 in the Tijuca neighborhood north of Rio de Janeiro, Erasmo Carlos had already received a Latin Grammy for Best Brazilian Album in 2014 and the Award for Musical Excellence in 2018.
With information from agencies.
IS
Source: Clarin
