#1: Scarborough Fair by Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66
City: Swift Current, SK
Radio Station: CKSW
Peak Month: January 1969
Peak Position in Swift Current ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube: “Scarborough Fair”
Lyrics: “Scarborough Fair”
Sérgio Santos Mendes was born in 1941 in Niterói, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. He attended the local conservatory intending to become a classical pianist. However, his interest in jazz grew, and he started playing in nightclubs in the late 1950s. This was while bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was emerging. Mendes played with his mentor, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and with many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil. In 1961, Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded the album Dance Modern. In the early Sixties, Mendes toured Europe and the United States. He recorded albums with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Hancock. Mendes also played at the Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the group name Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’65. The first, Brasil ’65, is a Portuguese-language album. The second release, The Great Arrival, is an instrumental album. A cover of the Mamas’ and The Papas’ “Monday Monday” later became a minor hit single in 1967. In 1966, it was suggested to Mendes that he add two women who could sing both in English and in Portuguese. The revised lineup was dubbed Brasil ’66.
