Pele was a fine artist. But he has always had a strong musical spirit cultivated from the early years in his home in the Tres Corazones district, in Minas Gerais, with the samba resounding in the cavaquinho of his father, Joao Ramos do Nascimento, “Dondinho”, a footballer frustrated early by an injury.

That almost omnipresent musical spirit in his generation had clear flashes which, far from being compared to his immense qualities as an athlete, enriched his personality with that particular sensitivity which this never forgotten hobby transmitted.

“I didn’t want the public to compare Pele, the composer, with Pele, the footballer. That comparison would have been a great injustice because in football, My talent was a gift from God and I make music just for fun”, he stressed during an interview with The Guardian, in 2006.

The joy of making music

While music never came before his profession, he admitted that somehow it always encouraged that closeness; that undoubted pleasure in playing and singing has generated a space of enormous satisfaction. “I’ve never been away from my guitar and even carried a mini tape recorder with me to capture melodies and lyrics for when they came to mind,” noted Lawrie Mifflin, in his New York Times obituary on Pele.

For Argentines, Pelé’s calling as a musician was evident when Maradona interviewed him on his legendary show on the night of the 10thbecause in a moment He sang a song to Diego.

Specifically, that taste for music, already taken seriously and not as a mere hobby, was exposed shortly after his retirement from professional football, on October 1, 1977, with the album Pele, that same year, with music by composer and arranger Sergio Mendes. It was the soundtrack of a documentary on the footballer’s life and which, moreover, it represented his debut as a songwriter.

In fact, Pelé performed two of his songs on this album; The main theme, My world is a ball Y big cityaccompanied by the Brazilian singer Gracinha Leporace.

His compatriot Joao Havelange’s various commitments as UN Ambassador and Unicef ​​Goodwill Ambassador, as well as his representation within FIFA, took away time and energy from pursuing a tepid music career that hadn’t disappointed his audiences, as faithful as musical.

A theme built with Xuxa

Some of his compositions have been performed by Brazilian artists in which he sometimes accompanied himself on vocals. For example, the singer xuxawith whom he had an affair, wrote him a song about Santa Claus.

In Brazil, his collaboration with the children’s group Trem de Alegria became very popular, especially with a song promoting literacy.

His first personal album

In 2006, he finally released his first album Ginga, a word that could be translated as swing and which describes that quick, precise movement of the hip as common in soccer as it is in samba. Thirteen songs that include collaborations with giant Brazilian music artists such as Gilberto Gilwhat I sing Quem Sou Eu and the wonderful Elis Reginawith which he played Perdao Nao Tem Y vexamao.

The musician Pelé reappeared in 2016, on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with Hopea pagoda-style song, written by him and performed together with a children’s choir and youth-focused lyrics.

In the video there are images of Pelé singing in the studio with others of boys playing soccer framed by scenes from Rio de Janeiro. Rapper Rappin’ Hood also appears on the album, in the song that gives the album its name.

Three days before his 80th birthday on October 20, 2020, he released the single Credit No Veiowith the collaboration of the Mexican guitarist duo Rodrigo and Gabriela.

“I wrote this song because when I played for Santos, the coach said that when we lost it was the players fault, but when we won it was the macumba who helped us and the song jokes about that,” said the unforgettable athlete after the release.

He owed a debt to music, because his second album, after Ginga It would have the collaborations of Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Elton John and Bono, as announced in 2009 and would become “a legacy for my family”. She couldn’t apparate due to his health problems.

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