Claudia Leitte

CLáudia Cristina Leite Inácio (born 10 July 1980) is a Brazilian singer and television personality.

During the 1990s, she worked in a variety of groups before founding and making a name for herself in Babado Novo, most notably Forró Violeta, Companhia do Pagode and Nata do Samba, where she met guitarist and songwriter Sérgio Rocha, who went on to be the musical director for Babado Novo and much of Leitte's solo career.

After unsuccessful forays into other bands and rhythms, in November 2001 Leitte decided to create a Salvador-based Axé band along with fellow Nata do Samba bandmate Sérgio Rocha.

They named it Babado Novo and recruited musicians Buguelo, Alan Moraes, Luciano Pinto, Nino Balla and Durval Luz to join them.

They were managed by Cal Adan, who also managed successful group É o Tchan!.

She rose to fame in late 2002 as the lead vocalist of the Axé music group Babado Novo.

The group achieved a string of consecutive diamond-certified hit singles in Brazil and five golden and platinum albums from 2003 to 2007, as granted by the Brazilian Association of Record Producers (ABPD).

Their first indie single, "Cai Fora", was responsible for giving the group the boost it needed, landing them a contract with Universal and Poly Music to release their debut self-titled album in 2003.

It earned them their first gold record certification, selling over 500,000 copies up until that year.

The album also featured hit singles "Eu Fico", "Canudinho", "Amor à Prova", a version of Roberto Carlos' "Amor Perfeito", a reimagination of Led Zeppelin's "Dyer Maker" and title track "Babado Novo".

These songs are considered classics of 2003's Carnival festivities.

On 3 December 2003, the band's second album was released.

Titled Sem-vergonha, the album spawned five hit singles: "Safado, Cachorro, Sem-vergonha", "Lirirrixa", "Fulano in Sala", "Falando Sério" and "Uau".

The later also served as the lead single for the band's third album and video release ''Uau!

Ao Vivo em Salvador'' on 21 December 2004.

The record sold over 400,000 copies.

Later that year, Babado Novo booked shows in the US for the first time, in New Jersey and Massachusetts, before touring in Tokyo, Japan.

In 2005, "Doce Desejo" was released as the second single of ''Uau!

Ao Vivo em Salvador'', followed by "Caranguejo" and "Me Chama de Amor" as the third and fourth singles.

On 10 December 2005, Babado Novo released "Bola de Sabão", the lead single from their next album.

The song reached top positions on the Brazilian charts and in a short time would become the group's most successful song to date.

It can be heard during the 2006 Mexican-Brazilian film Only God Knows, starring Alice Braga and Diego Luna.

Leitte embarked on a solo career and released her first solo album Ao Vivo em Copacabana (2008), recorded live in front of a crowd of over a million people.

The album was awarded gold and triple platinum certifications and established the singer as one of Brazil's greatest stars.

The lead single from the album, "Exttravasa", hit number one on the Brazilian charts – becoming one of the best-selling singles of the year along with topping radio airplays.

2010 saw the release of Leitte's first studio album As Máscaras which topped Billboard's Brazilian Albums chart and earned her a Latin Grammy Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album nomination.

Aside from her musical career, since 2012 she also serves as coach and mentor on the Brazilian version of television show The Voice and its kids spinoff.

CLáudia Cristina Leite Inácio was born in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, to Ilna Leite and CLáudio Inácio.

Her family lived in São Paulo and were visiting São Gonçalo at the time of her birth.

Within five days of Leitte being born, her family moved to Salvador, Bahia, her mother's hometown.

She has one younger brother, CLáudio Junior.

Leitte got her start working as a kids party entertainer.

At that time, she was enrolled in her neighborhood church's religion classes while still in high school.

Leitte would often secretly skip church to attend dance and acting classes.

Before becoming a full-time professional singer, she tried law school, communications and music at college – only to drop out at a later point.

She would go to college in the morning and hit bars and festivals for small singing gigs at night.

At first, her family was not very supportive of her artistic desires, but eventually changed their minds after a period of financial crisis in which Leitte's job proved an essential figure to the family's income.

Leitte later got her entry in the industry as a backing vocal for local singer Nando Borges.

Along with Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez, she recorded "We Are One (Ole Ola)", which served as the official song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

With more than 40 million followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter combined, she is one of the most powerful and popular female acts in Brazil and Latin America, having sold over 10 million records and being the recipient for many awards including a Latin Grammy and three World Music Awards nominations for 2014 alone.