Joyce Moreno

Born in Rio de Janeiro, four-times Grammy nominee, singer, composer, arranger and instrumentalist JOYCE MORENO has in her portfolio over 400 recordings of songs she has authored, interpreted by the greatest names in Brazilian popular music: from Elis Regina and Gal Costa to Milton Nascimento, Sergio Mendes, and countless others. Beyond Brazil, Joyce’s work has been recorded by Annie Lennox, Wallace Roney, Omara Portuondo, Black Eyed Peas, David Sanchez, Jon Lucien, Claus Ogerman, Gerry Mulligan, Till Brönner, Flora Purim, to name a few.

Joyce’s compositions have been featured in film soundtracks (e.g., The Player by Robert Altman and Legally Blonde by Robert Luketic), animations (the Japanese anime Wolf’s Rain, in partnership with composer Yoko Kanno), TV programs, and theatrical productions. In the early 1990’s her music was embraced by DJs all over the world, starting from London, and her tune Aldeia de Ogum became a massive worldwide dancefloor hit, with numerous remixes. Since the beginning of her career, Joyce’s registered trademark has been the first-person feminine voice, which she pioneered; she was the first Brazilian female songwriter to express herself in this form, opening the way for countless other artists who followed.

Joyce Moreno has received four nominations for the Latin Grammy (2000, 2004, 2005, 2010), and numerous awards, worldwide and in her native Brazil. To date, she has released 39 personal CDs and two DVDs, in addition to numerous compilations and guest appearances. Currently, her work takes her all over the world; she makes annual tours and records new albums in various countries, never losing her feminine Brazilian identity. Each year she performs on the Japanese Blue Note circuit and tours jazz festivals and other venues in Europe and North America.

In 2015 her musical work was honored at Berklee College of Music, where she performed her own songs with a 25-piece orchestra of top-notch students, in a concert called “Joyce Meets Berklee”.

QUOTES

“...One of the best singers of all time!... As if it weren’t enough, Joyce is a great composer and plays ace guitar! What an amazing woman!” - Antonio Carlos Jobim

“Joyce is a young lady that can only be described as a genius” - Claus Ogerman (on the liner notes of his 2004 CD box for Universal, “The Man Behind the Music’, that features a track with Joyce).

“Joyce is a Brazilian treasure” - DownBeat magazine, USA

“These days, she occupies a status something like that of Joni Mitchell, a matriarch who paved the way for other women (...) while influencing a generation with her jazz-steeped songs.” - Andrew Gilbert - East Bay Express

“Her musical capacity surprised me when, years later, she reemerged playing guitar like the best (in the land of João Gilberto, Dori [Caymmi], [Gilberto] Gil, and João Bosco, this is not a bagatelle), her singing precisely tuned, writing songs with original harmonic and melodic imagination.“ - Caetano Veloso