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Raul Santos Seixas (28 June 1945 – 21 August 1989) was a Brazilian rock musician foundational to the genre. Rolling Stone Brazil named Seixas among the greatest artists in Brazilian music.
Throughout his career, Seixas composed music in several genres, blending rock'n'roll, folk, and ballads with variations of Northeastern Brazil rhythms like forró, baião, and xote. His 1968 debut album, Raulzito e os Panteras, was produced when he was part of a band of the same name.
Life and career
Seixas was born in Salvador, Bahia, to a middle-class family. As a child living near the United States consulate, he became fluent in the English language, and was introduced to early rock and roll records of artists such as Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley through his contacts with American diplomats' children around 1956. Elvis's music in particular was influential in young Raul's decision to become a musician. At the age of twelve, Seixas formed his first group, The Panthers, later changing their name to the Portuguese-language Raulzito e os Panteras ("Little Raul and The Panthers"). They appeared on TV Itapoan doing covers of Lewis, Little Richard and Elvis, a style of music which was at the time called "cowboy music" in Brazil.
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Seixas got into self-exiling himself in the United States following the presumed detention by government repressive agents, where his American wife of the time was living. (Seixas was legally married twice to Edith Wisner and Gloria Vaquer Seixas.) He has three daughters. He would later claim that during his exile he had met his childhood heroes John Lennon and Jerry Lee Lewis, although this claim has been disputed.
Late career and death
Perhaps as a result of his drug addiction and alcoholism, the rate and quality of Seixas' releases slowed through the late-1970s and throughout the 1980s. In later life Seixas suffered from diabetes and pancreatitis. On Monday, 21 August 1989, Seixas died of cardiac arrest, the result of acute pancreatitis brought on by his diabetes and not having taken insulin the night before.
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