Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira - Career

Career

Her music career began when a close friend and guitar teacher Elodir Barontini invited her to sing at a dinner with Odeon´s marketing manager. At the end of this encounter, specially scheduled for her performance, came an offer of a contract to record not one but four albums at once. Her eponymous debut album was recorded in October 1972 at low cost and with a few musicians, conducted by José Briamonte. This inaugural edition circulated only among friends, relatives and artists; ten years later it would be re-edited and with a different cover. On March 20, 1973, Simone was launched for the press in a closed meeting at the Hilton Hotel in São Paulo; later on she would appear for the first time ever on a TV program, for 'TV Bandeirantes'. This was followed by another show on Mixturação (director/producer Walter Silva, April 1973), a TV Record program where she was one of the promising new talents. Thus success gradually took place.

A previous sportswoman who had already met success was now a stage presence, supported by her family – her father, an opera amateur singer, and her mother, a pianist, from whom she received a great stimulus. Before becoming familiar to the Brazilian audience, she was one of those invited to participate in an international tour in Europe, starting with a presentation at the Olympia in Paris. This tour was organized by Hermínio Bello de Carvalho, regarded as one of the most important Record producers in Brazil. They performed at Olympia, Madison Square Garden in New York, Belgium and Canada with great success, launching two albums – Brasil Export 73 e Festa Brasil - both produced by Hermínio Bello, who would also produce the next two albums, Quatro paredes and Gotas d´água, the last with Milton Nascimento´s production.