Tim Maia

By the early 70s, Rio de Janeiro's Tim Maia had become a gravitational force in Brazilian music, reshaping the country's contours of pop language by fusing soul, samba and funk into something swaggerful, joyousand unmistakably his. Larger-than-life and endlessly curious, he pulled Curtis Mayfield harmonies, Motown heat and local rhythmic swing into a single, indivisible current, giving Brazilian soul its most commanding voice. This period shows him at full voltage, arrangements swelling without ever smothering that rough, magnetic tone. 'Reu Confesso' lays down the template with smooth, syncopated lift, while 'Gostava Tanto de Voce' turns inward, bittersweet and feather-soft. 'O Balanco' surges with bright percussive snap, and 'Over Again' reveals how naturally he slipped into English-language soul. Few artists made hybridity feel this effortless.