Ricardo Ribeiro

Ricardo Ribeiro is a fado singer from Portugal with a traditional style whose full-length solo album releases are few and far between yet popular. Born on August 19, 1981, in Lisbon, he is primarily influenced by fado legend Fernando Maurício. Ribeiro made his commercial recording debut in 2004 with "Quando Se Gosta de Alguém," his contribution to the compilation album A Tribute to Amália Rodrigues, followed later in the year by his full-length solo album debut, the eponymous effort Ricardo Ribeiro. The critically acclaimed album won him the prestigious Prémio Revelação Masculina da Fundação Amália Rodrigues in 2005. Though it would be a half-decade before his next full-length album effort, Ribeiro kept active. In 2006 his song "A Lua e o Corpo" was featured on the compilation album Álbum Vermelho do Fado; in 2007 his song "Casa de Fados" was featured on the soundtrack to the documentary film Fados; and in 2008 his song "Rezando Pedi por Ti" was featured on the compilation album Fado Presente: A Nova Geração do Fado. Also in 2008 he was featured on the album Em Português by Lebanese oud player and composer Rabih Abou-Khalil. Six years after making his full-length album debut, Ribeiro released his second solo album, Porta do Coração (2010), which features musical backing from Pedro de Castro (guitar), Jaime Santos (viola), and Joel Pina (viola). Porta do Coração was a Top Five hit on the Portuguese albums chart and spawned the single "Moreninha da Travessa." ~ Jason Birchmeier