Paulinho da Costa

Paulinho da Costa (Portuguese pronunciation: [pawˈliɲu da ˈkɔʃtɐ], born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1943) is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he relocated to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Mendes. He went on to perform with many American pop, rock and jazz musicians and participated in thousands of albums, with DownBeat jazz magazine naming him "one of the most talented percussionists of our time." He was an artist on Michael Jackson’s Grammy Award-winning Thriller, Madonna's True Blue, Celine Dion’s Let's Talk About Love, hit singles and movie soundtracks, including Saturday Night Fever, Dirty Dancing and Purple Rain among others. He has also toured with Diana Krall. He plays over 200 instruments professionally, and has worked in a variety of music genres including Brazilian, blues, Christian, country, disco, gospel, hip hop, jazz, Latin, pop, rhythm and blues, rock, soul, and world music. He was signed to Norman Granz’s Pablo Records for three of his solo albums, Agora, Happy People and Sunrise, as well as Breakdown on A&M Records. Da Costa is the recipient of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ “Most Valuable Player Award” for three consecutive years. He is also the recipient of the honorary “Musicians Emeritus Award.