Nando Reis

Nando Reis (, born José Fernando Gomes dos Reis; January 12, 1963) is a Brazilian musician and producer, best known as the former bassist and one of the lead singers of Brazilian rock band Titãs and for his successful solo career, with his own band called Os Infernais.

He has also produced a few albums, including some related to Cássia Eller, who has made several significant partnerships with him, and Marisa Monte.

In 1978, he entered Equipe School.

There, he formed a band called "Os Camarões" (The Shrimps) with some friends, and managed to win a local music festival.

When he met Paulo Miklos and Arnaldo Antunes, who took part of the festival, he made the first compositions with what would later become Titãs.

When the high school was over, he made three attempts on the Mathematics yearly vestibular at University of São Paulo, but ended up studying at Federal University of São Carlos.

The university occupied most of his time.

Therefore, he decided to quit it in order to focus on the band.

By then, he was also a percussionist and crooner in Sossega Leão, a salsa band.

In the late 1980s, Titãs caught a plane to London, for their first international show.

In 1982, Titãs (at that time "Titãs do Iê-Iê") made their first live presentation at Mário de Andrade Library with Reis as a drummer, an instrument he soon abandoned.

They recorded several tapes and sent them to recording labels until they signed up with Warner Music label.

In 1984, Titãs released their first album, Titãs, and Nando played the bass guitar in some tracks although initially he was supposed to be a backing vocalist only.

After this release, he briefly left the band for two weeks in order to focus on Sossega Leão, which was making more money, but he changed his mind and was accepted back.

On June 19, 1989, his mother Cecília died of cancer.

In the early 1990s, he started producing his first albums, with artists like Marisa Monte and Cássia Eller.

In 1995, he recorded his first solo album, 12 de Janeiro.

In 2000, Titãs changed to Abril Music, and after recording As Dez Mais in Seattle, Nando released his second solo album, Para Quando o Arco-Íris Encontrar o Pote de Ouro, with some special participations like Cássia Eller, Rogério Fausino (from Jota Quest) and Peter Buck (from REM).

In 2001, he was nominated for the Multishow Brazilian Music Award for "Best solo new artist", but lost to Wanessa Camargo.

On June 13, 2001, Titãs' guitarist Marcelo Fromer died after being rammed by a motorcycle (see Marcelo Fromer's Death).

In 2012, Nando Reis was listed among the top ten Brazilian artists at the ECAD list of artists who earned the most from copyright in the first semester of that year.

In 2016, he was at the 15th position, besides being 6th in the ranking of earnings from live performances and topped the ranking of earnings from music played in public places.

Nando Reis was born in São Paulo to Cecília Leonel and José Carlos Galvão Gomes dos Reis.

He was given his prename "José" just like his brothers, José Carlos, the oldest of the children, and José Luiz (who is deaf ), the younger.

His two sisters also shared the same prenames: Maria Cecília, the older, and Maria Luiza, the youngest of the five, who developed cerebral palsy.

His mother was an acoustic guitar teacher and his father was an engineer.

José Carlos taught him a little bit of Rock 'n' Roll, showing him Rolling Stones's album Between the Buttons.

Maria Cecília taught him to play the acoustic guitar and took him to a show of Gal Costa and Gilberto Gil.

He was given his first acoustic guitar by his grandmother, at the age of 7, and was taught his first chords by his sister.

However, most of his skills were acquired alone, when he learned songs of Caetano Veloso all by himself.

He also had lessons with Paulinho Nogueira, who also taught his mother.

Some friends of José Carlos played in a rock band.

Once, he took Nando to a small performance at the garage of the bassist house.

Impressed with the solos of the guitarist, he asked him to teach him, but he never made it.

He also tried the drums, but gave up.

He decided then to play the bass guitar, as his attempts to play the electric guitar and the drums failed.

Other artists, such as the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Alice Cooper kept joining his main influences.

At the age of eleven, he had classes of classic guitar and harmony with Alexandre ("Maranhão"), a friend of José Carlos.

His first compositions were all based on poems.

Most of them were long, showing his appreciation for long songs.