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Vanessa da Mata

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Brazilian songwriter with a light, unhurried touch on MPB — best known abroad for the bilingual Ben Harper duet 'Boa Sorte/Good Luck.'

Vanessa da Mata was born Vanessa Sigiane da Mata Ferreira in 1976 in Alto Garças, a small town in Mato Grosso. Largely self-taught in music, she grew up listening to Luiz Gonzaga, Tom Jobim, Milton Nascimento and Orlando Silva, alongside regional carimbó records brought back by a travelling uncle and the samba and sertaneja played on local radio.

At 14 she moved alone to Uberlândia to prepare for university entrance exams, and instead found she preferred singing, performing in local clubs within a year. At 16 she moved to São Paulo, joined the reggae band Shalla-Ball, and later toured with the Jamaican group Black Uhuru as a backing vocalist before joining the regional-rhythms band Mafuá.

Before recording under her own name, she worked as a songwriter, co-writing "A Força que Nunca Seca" with Chico César for Maria Bethânia, and writing for Bethânia and Caetano Veloso, Daniela Mercury and Ana Carolina. She also sang backing vocals in concerts by Milton Nascimento, Bethânia and Baden Powell.

Her own recordings, starting with a self-titled debut in 2002, sit within MPB while drawing on samba, reggae rhythms and pop songcraft; her voice is light and conversational, and her arrangements tend to leave space rather than fill it. A second album, Essa Boneca Tem Manual, followed in 2004, producing her first Brazilian number-one single, "Ai, Ai, Ai."

The 2007 album Sim broadened her audience considerably and remains her best-known record. She has released further albums since, and songs including "Boa Sorte/Good Luck" and "Amado" also reached number one in Brazil; a Latin Grammy winner, she is regarded in Brazil as much for her songwriting as for her performances.

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