I was born on November 9th, 1973 in Recife, Pernambuco and my contact with music began at a very early age. Thanks to my uncles I began listening to Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Bee Gees etc.

Later, about 1985, when I was already 11 years old, I began listening to Judas Priest, AC/DC and Iron Maiden with my friends. At that moment my eyes shone for I had never heard anything like that before. I was immediately fascinated because it was something different, modern, heavy, with very distorted guitars for the time and specially the high pitched vocals. I became addicted to that sound.

Soon after I began looking for other bands and discovered Twisted Sister, Europe, Whitesnake, Van Halen, Black Sabbath and Winger, which was the sound track for cigarette commercials at the time, besides the bands I mentioned before. That same year I watched the Rock in Rio Festival on TV and saw various bands I idolized, becoming even more fascinated by the sound.

With each passing year I became more fanatic about Heavy Metal in general. As soon as I got home from school, I took a quick shower, ate lunch and then played my LPs on my record player as well as the cassette tapes which were very popular at the time, specially since many things weren´t available in Brazil. Therefore, it was rare for someone to have many Metal records and making copies of them for close friends was a common practice. No one liked lending out their LPs since they were expensive and delicate and you wanted to keep them all to yourself!

I remember I had the album Powerslave and I don´t know how I didn´t wear it out since I listened to it every afternoon pretending I was Bruce Dickinson, at the head of my favorite band! I sang the whole time! At the end of the afternoon I used to take my record player to the bathroom and spend hours singing Live After Death from start to finish.

The LP market in Brazil started improving and we were invaded by the sought after Heavy Metal LPs licensed in Brazil. Most of the great bands released their albums here and this made the search for new bands and styles that much easier. I began listening to a lot of Death and Thrash metal and when I was 19 years old I started my own band, Malefic, in which I “played guitar” and sang. We began writing our own material and rehearsing, but we didn´t get very far because we lived far from each other and the studio where we rehearsed couldn´t stand that “deafening noise” and didn´t want us to play there anymore. Because of these and other difficulties the band came to an end.

In 1997 I checked out the rehearsal of a band in which my friends Marcos “Smith” and Sergio “Maiden” played. At the time they were looking for a singer. In the middle of the rehearsal I asked to sing and was chosen as the new singer. Hahahahah! The band was called The Duellists and the style was somewhat like Iron Maiden since all members of the band were fans of good old Maiden. Unfortunately I had to leave the band in 1998 because I moved to Manaus, Amazonas.

For me, the experience with The Duellists was one of the most important of my career because that is where it all really began. I found out that I had an ability for singing more melodic material, different from my more guttural vocals when I was part of Malefic.

Upon arriving in Manaus, the first thing I did was to go after a band in which I could sing. I had made up my mind to follow a career as a singer. I went into a record store and saw an add looking for a singer. I called the guys and we set a date for an audition. When I got there another singer was auditioning, but I was lucky to be chosen.

The band didn´t have a name, hahaha! Actually, we had various makeshift names and there were musical disagreements as to the style the band should follow. Because of this, the guitar player Fred Magno and I left and became part of the band Millennium, where I played for about a year and a half. At the same time, the guys of the band Glory Opera asked me to record a demo. They had been looking for a singer for a few months and had already written two songs, both of which I recorded for the demo. I identified myself better with the songs of Glory Opera and decided to leave Millennium thus beginning my work with the band, where I helped writing and so on. This took place in April 2000.

In July that same year, I did my stage debut with Glory Opera. The gig was filmed and I sent a VHS copy to my friend Marcos Smith who edited the tape and gave it to Kiko Loureiro who was doing a workshop in Recife. His band Angra was looking for a new singer. Two days later guitar player Rafael Bittencourt called and asked me if I´d like to audition. I accepted immediately and went to São Paulo.

At the time I couldn´t believe I was auditioning for a well-known band such as Angra, for I hadn´t even recorded the first album with Glory Opera (Rising Moangá). I had only recorded the demo so I had little ,if any, studio experience and besides, I was practically unknown. Maybe that is why I wasn´t chosen, but that didn´t matter! What really mattered at the time was that I was sure I was on the right track because, even being unknown, my talent was recognized in some way. This led me to believe in myself and he who believes always achieves!

From then on I began studying singing and musical theory at the Centro Cultural Cláudio Santoro, learning vocal techniques, how to read music and singing in the Coral Jovem (Youth Choral). I only attended classes for a short time since various students frequently missed classes and we hardly ever rehearsed pieces by Mozart, Bach, among others. It was a very important period for me because nowadays I use the techniques I learned then to sing all styles of music.

I continued playing gigs with Glory Opera in Manaus and neighboring cities and then we recorded our first album, Rising Moangá. At the time we received prizes from specialized sites and magazines, which was a big step for both me and the band´s career for having done a great job. This led to a small tour passing through cities such as São Paulo, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, opening for Nightwish in the last two mentioned cities.
In 2003 we played at the BMU and this was one of our best gigs. The chemistry between the band and public was obvious.

In 2004 we began recording the acclaimed Equilibrium, revealing a more mature band with a heavier sound. Due to the new direction the band was taking, I had to change the way I sang. I began experimenting by using some drives along with Vitor Rodrigues of Torture Squad, in one of the songs of the album Equilibrium. This was a great experience for me because I was singing with to one of the big Extreme Metal singers of the country. It reminded me of the times with Malefic! The years passed and I gained more vocal experience and used the drive more and more trying to accompany the metal market since new singers used this technique with the approval of the public.

Due to the bad geographical location, Glory Opera had trouble doing gigs in other states since travel expenses were too high for the producers. Because of this, some band members became discouraged and left.
After the band was reformulated, we continued our incessant search for more recognition and we had many fans who gave us the motivation to carry on.
I confess I almost abandoned the band and music for the same reason as the former members, but then I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. We did a tour in the Northeast of Brazil in December 2008 and then stopped to rest and schedule the remainder of the tour.

In the middle of all this, I was invited by Hangar to audition. Aquiles sent me an email and I accepted the challenge to sing before Hangar´s demanding fans at the EM&T without having rehearsed. This presentation was an incredible experience and from that moment on I felt like a band member. Of course I respected the other candidates, but I was certain I was going to be chosen. Maybe this happened because of the desire to be part of a band made up of great, demanding and talented professionals and specially because of their faithful public.

The following day I met with Hangar at a studio, to continue with battery of tests. I recorded four songs of the album The Reason of Your Conviction, always with one take, as if it were live. The songs recorded were Hastiness, The Reason of Your Conviction, Call me in The Name of Death and Captivity.

A few days later, Aquiles asked me to meet them at a farm in Tatuí. Upon arrival, I was welcomed warmly. At the time they were working on the pre-production of the new album. I witnessed how intensely Hangar worked, concentrating on doing their best and that really encouraged me. If they chose me, I was sure I would record a great album, infallible. The songs, even though still “skeletons”, gave me an idea of how excellent they´d be because they already sounded perfect, just like hits. One of the things that caught my attention was the speed and rapport with which they wrote the songs. That was really amazing!

Another really important aspect was the respect they have for each when composing. If one of them came up with an idea, someone else tried to reproduce it and things always worked out thanks to their rapport. No member has ego issue as in other bands that don’t succeed because of that!

At the end of the day we had a fun and delicious barbecue, of course! We talked a lot about the possibility of my joining the band as well as my opinion about the new songs. This led me to believe that they really wanted me to be part of the band, and made me very happy and even more confident. Nevertheless, I went back to São Paulo with things still in the air and remained there for another 30 days without hearing from them.

After a month of anxious waiting, Aquiles called to tell me I had been chosen. I felt like screaming and that is what I did! I went to the window of the apartment where I was staying and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! What a relief! It was a unique sensation, extremely pleasant and I think Aquiles went deaf, hahaha!

A month later we began recording Infallible. This was my biggest challenge because I had just become a member of the band. I learned the songs and had to record them right after. This wasn´t easy because I didn´t have time to study them and had to do a great job that would please all of them. All this plus the pressure due to a deadline set by the label in Japan, etc. It was very stressful, but as with all members of Hangar, the overcoming of problems and the desire to their best is the secret to becoming infallible. The determination of all members was inspiring plus the support in everything I was doing, interpreting the songs as best as I could and of course, the unconditional support of Hangar´s fans and of those who already knew me. Of course, I have to mention Aquiles´ unbelievable diligence. After 18 daily hours accompanying and producing the recordings, after everyone else went to sleep, he transferred the songs to his Ipod looking for any possible flaw or something that could be improved.

During my spare time I roamed the farm with my new, great friend Martinez, who always advised me about various things, besides being a very fun guy. He also taught me guitar scales that we will be of use to me for the rest of my life. I´m not very good at learning these kind of things, but he has a gift for teaching positive things!

After thirty some days of recording, I bravely managed to finish Infallible. I don´t know how my voice endured. It definitely was due to the desire to do my best. Of one thing I am certain: I applied the knowledge obtained during all these years and, without doubt, this is my best vocal performance and I´m very proud of it!

After Infallible was concluded there was no time to rest because we had a gig in Caraguatatuba, São Paulo that same week. We spent the whole week rehearsing 4 to 5 hours daily non stop. Once again everyone was determined to achieve the best possible results. My voice had to endure such a routine!

May 17th, 2009, marked my official debut on stage with Hangar. Even though I was nervous, I was able to prove I deserved to be part of this band of extreme, focused professionals who are crazy about what they do and above all in love with the fans who encourage us everyday with positive messages and unconditional support during all of the phases of our musical careers! Greetings to everyone and we´ll see each other at the gigs so I can continue my story with Hangar and with all of you!


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