Jorge Benjor (b. Jorge Duílio Lima Menezes), a leading pop music innovator known best for his upbeat hybrids of roots samba, funk, soul, and other diasporic rhythms. He began his music career in the early 1960s using the stage name Jorge Ben, taken from the surname of his Ethiopian mother who gave him his first guitar. He divided his energies between rock and roll and bossa nova, the sophisticated new style based on samba rhythms and jazz harmonies. In 1963, he recorded his first LP album Samba Esquema Novo followed by Sacudin Ben Samba and Ben é Samba Bom of the following year. He scored an international hit with "Mas que nada" which gained versions by Sérgio Mendes, Miriam Makeba, and Hugh Masakela. In the late 1960s, his music was embraced by the innovative tropicalist movement led by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, who celebrated his electric fusions of international black popular music while others criticized him for deviating from "authentic" Brazilian samba. His 1969 recording Jorge Ben, which features "País Tropical," "Que Pena," and "Charles Anjo 45" evidence a strong affinity for soul music and the black counterculture of the United States. During this period, he participated in the annual International Song Festival of Rio de Janeiro, winning several awards for his compositions. In 1975, he recorded with Gilberto Gil Gil e Jorge, a magnificent acoustic album which explores their common Afro-Brazilian heritage. In 1976, he released Africa Brasil, perhaps his most celebrated album of all time, featuring classics like "Ponta de lança africano," "Taj Majal," and "Xica da Silva," the theme song for a popular film by Carlos Diegues about the powerful and shrewd black mistress of a Portuguese diamond merchant and slave holder. In 1989, he changed his name to Jorge Benjor and released an acclaimed recording, Benjor. His international renown was given a boost with the release of a popular compilation of Brazilian music, Beleza Tropical, which included his irresistible soccer anthems, "Fio Maravilha" and "Ponto de Lança Africano." In the 1994, he enjoyed massive success in Brazil with the recording, 23, featuring hits like "Alcool" and "Engenho de dentro." In 2002 he released a live retrospective double CD and DVD featuring the two bands with whom he has recorded for the past thirty years, Admiral Jorge V and A Banda do Zé Pretinho.

Contributed by: Christopher Dunn