Tania Maria

Tania Maria Correa Reis (born May 9, 1948 in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil), professionaly known as Tania Maria, is a Brazilian jazz and MPB singer, pianist, composer and bandleader, singing mostly in Portuguese or English. Her style combines an original fusion of jazz, funk and pop with Brazilian genres such as samba, bossa nova and Afro-Latin influences.

Tania began playing the piano at the age of seven and became a bandleader at the age of thirteen, when her band of professional musicians, organized by her father, won first prize in a local music contest and went on to play for dances, in clubs and on the radio. Her father, a metal worker and a gifted guitarist and singer, had encouraged her to study piano so that she could play in his weekend jam sessions, where she first absorbed the rhythms and melodies of samba, jazz, pop music and Brazilian chorinho. Since then, she has never worked in anyone else's group. She has a degree in law, married early and had children.