Ivan Guimarães Lins (born 16 June 1945) is a Latin Grammy-winning Brazilian musician. He has been an active performer and songwriter of Brazilian popular music (MPB) and jazz for over fifty years. His first hit, "Madalena", was recorded by Elis Regina in 1970. "Love Dance", a hit in 1989, is one of the most recorded songs in contemporary music .[1]
Ivan Lins was born in Ituverava - São Paulo. He spent several years in Boston, Massachusetts, while his father, a naval engineer, continued graduate studies at M.I.T., studied at the Military College in Rio. He later received a degree in industrial chemical engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.[2] He considered a career in volleyball before discovering his considerable musical talent. Ivan Lins currently resides in Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon.
Work
Ivan Lins has released albums regularly and penned several standards, such as "Love Dance", "Começar de Novo" (Starting Over) (the English lyric version is titled "The Island", with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman) and "Velas Içadas", which have made their way north into the American jazz lexicon. "You Moved Me to This", a duet with Brenda Russell from the same album as "Love Dance", saw modest success on American radio. He recorded in English for Reprise/Warner Bros. Records in the early 1990s.
In the mid-eighties, Lins recorded a jazz fusion album with Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour titled Harlequin, which was a critical and commercial success. Lins also composed the soundtrack for the Brazilian film Dois Córregos.
Lins' longtime composing partner is Vítor Martins. Their songs typically feature lush harmony with a distinctive jazz sensibility. One signature voicing Lins often employs when performing his own compositions is the delayed addition of a ♯11 to a sus13 chord, or the delayed addition of a ♭9 to a sus13 chord.
Lins appeared as a guest performer on the albums Dois Mundos (1998) and Recorded in Rio (2003) by the Dutch artist Josee Koning. He also appeared on the Michael Bublé album Call Me Irresponsible (2007) and with singer/songwriter Paula Cole on her 2007 CD Courage, singing a duet with her on the song "Hard to be Soft". Lins guested on American artist Jane Monheit's album Surrender (2007), which includes his composition "Rio de Maio".
Jazz reporter and music critic David Adler[3] reported Lins's October 2000 Carnegie Hall concert performance and tribute to him. The event corresponded with the tribute album titled A Love Affair, released by Telarc Records. Headline performers from diverse genres participated in celebrating the man and his music on the recording and in the world-class performance hall, a noteworthy accomplishment in the history of any musician.
As of 2018[update], Lins maintained an intermittent North American tour schedule, including performances at Yoshi's that year (and a decade prior),[4] and in New York City: a 2003 appearance at the Blue Note, and then in May 2008, with Rosa Passos, at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Beyond his own performance of his compositions, Simone is a notable and respected interpreter of his work.
In 2023, Ivan Lins' Um Novo Tempo, released in 1980 as a song of resistance against the US-backed Brazilian military regime, was played at Beijing Tiananmen Square to welcome Brazilian President Lula for a state visit. The song was suggested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Brazil). Ivan Lins later said on Twitter: "I'm so emotional! You can't imagine how much this means to me and Vitor [Martins],"[5]
Awards and honors
In 2005, he won two Latin Grammy Awards; Album of the Year and Best MPB (Música popular brasileira) Album for Cantando Histórias. He became the first Brazilian artist and Portuguese-language artist to win the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year. No other Brazilian artist or Portuguese-language artist has won the award since then.
Lins was nominated for three Latin Grammy Awards in 2009 for his latest album, Regência: Vince Mendoza performed with the Metropole Orchestra. He was nominated for Record of the Year (Arlequim Desconhecido) and Album of the Year. He won the award for Best MPB (Música popular brasileira) Album.
