Samba singer Elza Soares passed away on January 20 in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 91. She was born in 1930 in the favela of Moça Bonita (now Vila Vintem) in the neighborhood of Padre Miguel in Rio.
Elza Gomes da Conceição rose from poverty to stardom in Brazil and had a career that spanned seven decades and included 35 albums. She had a powerful, dramatic voice that she sometimes mixed with a raspy growl that earned her comparisons to Louis Armstrong. Soares explored many types of samba, as well as jazz, bossa nova, MPB, rock and electronic music. She was one of the first Brazilian singers to mix samba with scat vocals in her debut album, Se Acaso Voce Chegasse (If You Happen to Show Up). released in 1960. Soares won many honors in her lifetime, including a Latin Grammy award for Best MPB Album for Mulher do Fim do Mundo (Woman at the End of the World, 2015). She had four Latin Grammy nominations for other works. In 2016, she sang in the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
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