Heitor (1887-1959)

b. Heitor Teixeira Pereira, 29 November 1957, Brazil. Exuberant guitarist Heitor first came to public prominence outside Brazil as a key element in Simply Red’s staggering success with 1989’s A New Flame. However, he has long since harboured ambitions outside of that group, which eventually resulted in a 1994 solo album. Brought up in the south east of Brazil, Heitor never originally envisaged music as a career, more as the natural expression of his people. Eventually a friend introduced him to albums of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, as well as the classical recordings of Mahler and Schoenberg. Suitably inspired, he decided he would have to travel to America to further his education. His first port of call was Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent 18 months playing jazz and buying records. He then returned to Brazil to work in the studio with Stewart Lovine, which eventually led to an invitation to move to Italy and work with Simply Red. Spending several years with the band opened his eyes to new streams of music and styles of playing, with his ambition to record solo, like the expressive quality of his guitar technique, never diminishing. This resolve eventually reached fruition in 1994 with a self-tiled record sung in his native Portuguese. Contributions received included the voice of Mick Hucknall on one track, ‘Manchester’, plus South American artists Paulinho da Costa and Leo Gandelman, bass player Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd), Gota Yashiki (Gota And The Low Dog) and others. However, the vast majority of the recording and playing was conducted by Heitor himself, with one song, ‘Joan Pernambuco’, paying tribute to the man who authenticated the use of acoustic guitar as an instrument used outside of the vagabond community in Brazil. Based in Los Angeles, California, from 1997 Heitor has composed soundtracks for numerous movies including As Good As It Gets (1997), Dead In The Water (2002), and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004).
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