Salomé de Bahia

Biography by David Jeffries Paris-based Brazilian chanteuse Salomé de Bahia came to the international dancefloor via Bob Sinclair, the hip French producer and head of the cosmopolitan Yellow Productions label. It was the mid-'90s when Sinclair attended a revue hosted by bandleader Edvaldo Carneiro at the chic Parisian club Café Felix. Out of the 40 Bahia-based Brazilian performers, Sinclair was most entranced with the effervescent Salomé de Bahia and thought she was perfect for the Brazilian-influenced group he was forming, the Reminiscence Quartet. She was featured on the group's Psycodelico album and its accompanying tour of Europe. In 2001 she was featured on the club hit "Tourment d'Amour" from Sinclair's album Africanism. Her first solo album, Cabaret, arrived in 2003. The album's spicy combination of bossa nova, samba, salsa, and club tracks with disco attitude endeared her to Gilles Peterson and other tastemakers while the single "Outro Lugar" -- her Portuguese-language cover version of Stevie Wonder's "Another Star" -- dominated the clubs. Two years later, de Bahia dusted off her feathered headdress and returned with the full-length Brasil. The album was her American debut courtesy of the Tommy Boy label.