João Donato

João Donato was born in Rio Branco and moved with his family to Rio de Janeiro in 1945. He began his professional career in 1949 as a member of Altamiro Carrilho's group and recorded his first LP, Chá dançante, in 1956.

He lived in the United States for part of the 1950s and 1960s; A Bad Donato, from 1970, documents this period. Back in Brazil in 1972, he released Quem é quem. A pianist, accordionist and composer, he died in Rio de Janeiro in 2023.