Netinho (singer)

Career

Netinho started out playing Brazilian popular music and Bossa Nova before shifting his focus to Carnival. In 1988, he became the vocalist for Banda Beijo and made his debut on the local Carnival circuit. That same year, the group scored its first big hit with the single "Beijo na Boca" and soon appeared on the eighth episode of Rede Globo's Domingão do Faustão. In 1990, the band toured Italy in an electric trio during the FIFA World Cup; after that, Netinho went on a short solo tour across Brazil.

Banda Beijo's third album, Eu Quero Beijo, came out in 1990 on BMG, and its release party on the roof of Barra Shopping reportedly drew 40,000 people. PolyGram put out their next album, Badameiro, in 1991. The band released Happened in 1992 and Aconteceu, Axé Music in 1993, which was Netinho's last album with the group. His first solo CD, Um Beijo pra Você, also arrived in 1993; his cover of Paulinho Nogueira's "Menina" became a major hit and was used as Amanda's theme in the Globo soap opera Tropicaliente.

That album earned him his first platinum record in Brazil and his first gold record in Chile. In 1994, he released Nada Vai Nos Separar, and the track "Como" became Sheila's theme on História de Amor. His live album Netinho - Ao Vivo! was mastered at Bernie Grundman's studio in Los Angeles and reached diamond status, selling over 1.5 million copies. The songs "Caso Sério" and a cover of Caetano Veloso's "Você É Linda" from Alguém Cantando Caetano were used in Malhação in 1996.

His next album, Me Leva, went platinum, and the song "Milla" remains one of his most popular, appearing on Corpo Dourado in 1998 and on Segundo Sol in 2018. "Pra Te Ter Aqui" served as the theme for Corpo Dourado, and Netinho appeared in chapter 52 of that show on March 17, 1998.

Personal life

Netinho was married to journalist Mariana Trindade from 1997 to 2003, and their daughter Bruna was born in 2000. He came out as bisexual in a 2008 interview with Quem.

In 2020, he drew criticism for comparing LGBT inclusion in Bahian Carnival to Sodom and Gomorrah, adding that if LGBT people did not focus on the "fiofó," they could be running Brazil alongside Jair Bolsonaro. He stated he had been celibate since 2016 and considered his bisexuality "resolved." In a 2019 Facebook post about a same-sex kiss in a comic, he wrote: "I'm a man, bisexual, father, family, conservative, honest, dignified, sincere, fulfilled and very happy. No more." He became a vegan in 2017.

Politically, Netinho turned conservative in 2016 and became a strong backer of former president Jair Bolsonaro. In 2020, he founded the Aliados Brasil Conservador association to support Bolsonaro. He ran for federal deputy of Bahia in the 2022 election under the Liberal Party. In 2023, Clube de Aracaju canceled one of his shows after he posted support on Instagram for "the criminal acts promoted by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro." Netinho then complained he was being canceled on social media.

In 2018, the songwriters of "Milla," Manno Góes and Tuca Fernandes, objected to Netinho using the song at pro-Bolsonaro rallies. Góes sought an injunction to have Carla Zambelli remove a video of Netinho performing the song, citing unauthorized political use. Netinho countersued Góes for "abusive conduct" and "offensive statements," demanding the removal of posts that labeled him anti-democratic, a criminal, and a "coup plotter."

Did You Know?

• Netinho's mother gave him his first guitar at age 14.
• He began playing professionally in local bars at age 16 while studying civil engineering at the Catholic University of Salvador.
• After his father's death in the mid-1970s, his family moved to Salvador.