Marcos Kostenbader Valle (born September 14, 1943 in Rio de Janeiro)[1] is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and record producer. He has produced works in many musical styles, including bossa nova, samba, incidental music and fusions of American/European rock and dance music with Brazilian styles.
Valle's talent was evident from his high school years, which coincided with the height of the Bossa Nova movement in Rio. His classmates included future legends like Edu Lobo and Dori Caymmi, and his composition "Sonho De Maria" was included on the Avanco album by the highly influential Tamba Trio in 1963. With his brother Paulo Sergio Valle as his lyricist, he had already built an impressive portfolio of songs, prompting the Odeon label (a subsidiary of EMI) to sign him to a recording contract. His debut album Samba Demais was released early in 1964. His reputation quickly spread, and his contemporaries on the music scene (including Wilson Simonal, Elis Regina, Nara Leão and many others) lined up to record his songs. A second album, O Compositor e o Cantor, followed in 1965, and featured the debut of what would become his most recognizable song, "Samba De Verão" (known in English as "So Nice (Summer Samba)"), as well as other instant classics as "Deus Brasileiro," "Gente" and "A Resposta."
1966 brought Valle's first trip to the United States, where he and his then-wife Anamaria teamed up with the also recently-emigrated Sérgio Mendes briefly in an embryonic version of what would later become the latter's hugely successful Brasil '66. The threat of being drafted and sent to Vietnam caused him to return quickly to Brazil, however, although the following year saw him return and have a more positive experience which included his debut American release "Braziliance!" on Warner Bros. Records, several appearances on the Andy Williams TV show. Following session work on Verve Records releases by compatriots Walter Wanderley and Astrud Gilberto, the label released Valle's "Samba '68" album featuring English-language versions of assorted songs from his earlier Brazilian releases.
