Singer Erasmo Carlos, one of Brazil’s rock pioneers, died on Tuesday after being hastily admitted into a Rio de Janeiro hospital the previous day to treat an edemigenic crisis — a condition caused by an excess of fluids in one’s organs. He was 81.
Mr. Carlos was one of the names at the forefront of the “Jovem Guarda” musical movement in the 1960s and 1970s, which brought elements from American and British rock to Brazilian music, being heavily influenced by Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
His first musical venture was the band The Sputniks, which also included Tim Maia and Roberto Carlos, Brazil’s best-selling singer. The band didn’t last long, but it was enough to launch the solo careers of all three men.
Throughout his prolific career, Mr. Carlos released 36 studio albums and five live albums. He saw himself more as a composer than a singer and authored 600 songs — including some which became iconic in the voice of Roberto Carlos, his former partner.
His career also included cameos in six movies — the last being “Modo Avião,” a teenage comedy launched by Netflix in 2020.
The death of Erasmo Carlos comes just two weeks after Brazil lost Gal Costa, a legendary voice in the country’s popular music.
Mr. Carlos’s health had been debilitated as of late. In October, he had already spent nine days in hospital following an edemigenic crisis. The condition happens when there is a biochemical imbalance, making it difficult to keep fluids inside the blood vessels. Generally, this disease is caused by conditions affecting the heart, kidneys, or circulatory system.
In August of last year, the musician also caught Covid and was hospitalized for a week.
On Twitter, President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva mourned Mr. Carlos’s death. “We’ll miss you and dozens of songs that will always be in our memories and on the soundtrack of our lives. My condolences to Erasmo Carlos’s family, friends, and fans,” Lula wrote.
The musician’s last post on his social media was published on Friday when he celebrated winning the Latin Grammy for best rock album or alternative music in Portuguese for “Jovem Guarda,” launched this year. In 2014, Mr. Carlos had already won another Latin Grammy Awards for his album “Gigante Gentil.”
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