Recording career Deodato often plays the
Fender Rhodes electric piano. He became successful as a keyboard player in the 1970s. Since then, he has produced and arranged music on more than 500 albums for artists such as
Kool & the Gang,
Con Funk Shun,
Björk,
Christophe,
Ithamara Koorax and
k.d. lang. Guitarist
John Tropea and flautist
Hubert Laws appeared on his early albums.
Prelude, his first album in the U.S., was released in 1973. His track
Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) scored a big hit on the
Billboard pop chart. This album was crossover music style that attracted a large audience and was produced by
Creed Taylor for his label
CTI. The album sold 5 million copies worldwide and earned Deodato the
1974 Grammy Award for
Best Pop Instrumental Performance for the track
Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) as well as a Grammy nomination for
Best New Artist. His interpretation of
Pavane pour une infante défunte ("Pavane for a Dead Princess") by
Maurice Ravel was used in the 1970s by an Australian television station as background music. In 1978, he had an orchestral hit with "Whistle Bump" from the LP titled
Love Island. The track promoted the widespread use of whistles in nightclubs at the time. However, his popularity in the discos was solidified when he released the 1979 single
Night Cruiser from the album of the same name, which earned him a third Grammy nomination for
Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Deodato continued recording through the 1980s. In 1985, he had two hits, "
S.O.S., Fire in the Sky" and "
Are You For Real", on
Billboard magazine's top 20 Dance chart. He has been credited for helping to start the career of
Milton Nascimento; Deodato was part of a committee tasked with choosing songs for the
Festival Internacional da Canção and chose three by Nascimento. He moved to New York City in 1967 to work with guitarist
Luiz Bonfá, with whom he recorded seven albums and countless jingles. Bonfá also introduced him to vocalist
Astrud Gilberto and record producer
Creed Taylor, when they were reunited on the making of Astrud's "Beach Samba" album for
Verve Records. Later on, Creed Taylor hired him to write arrangements for musicians at
CTI Records who included
Wes Montgomery, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento,
Walter Wanderley,
Stanley Turrentine,
Paul Desmond and the
CTI All Stars. Deodato also recorded with
Frank Sinatra, (1969),
João Donato (1970), Youg, Holt Unlimited (1973), Aretha Franklin (1973), and recorded three albums with
Roberta Flack from 1971 to 1973. He had other collaborations, including producing four million-selling albums for Kool and the Gang from 1979 to 1982, the first solo album by
Kevin Rowland of
Dexys Midnight Runners in 1988, three albums for singer
Ithamara Koorax, as well as records by
Chuck Mangione,
Larry Graham,
Tania Maria,
Eliane Elias,
Pretty Poison,
One Way,
Con Funk Shun,
Brenda K. Starr,
Kleeer,
Gwen Guthrie and
kd Lang. Deodato also developed a close collaboration with Icelandic singer
Björk from 1996 to 1998, arranging her albums
Post,
Telegram and
Homogenic as well as conducting the orchestra in many concerts for her both in Brazil and in the USA. For Deodato's
Love Island, he and
Maurice White co-wrote the instrumental "Tahiti Hut", which (with lyrics added to it) was later recorded by the band
Switch with guest vocals by
Jermaine Jackson. Deodato wrote orchestral arrangements for the films
The Gentle Rain (with original soundtrack by Luiz Bonfá in 1965), and
The Adventurers (with soundtrack by Antonio Carlos Jobim and additional score by Deodato in 1969), as well as the original soundtracks for
Target Risk,
The Black Pearl (1977),
The Onion Field (1979),
Beat Street (1980),
White Nights (1985, resuming his collaboration with Roberta Flack), and
Bossa Nova (2000), among many others. He also produced and arranged for the movies
Body Rock and
Ghostbusters II. In 2025, Deodato released
Meridiano with Carlos Pingarilho, and
Spirit of Summer with Ithamara Koorax. == Personal life ==