Milton Nascimento was born in the boarding house Dona Augusta in the neighborhood of
Tijuca,
Rio de Janeiro, where his mother, Maria do Carmo do Nascimento, was a
maid. Maria raised her son on her own, until dying of tuberculosis when he was two, thereafter he was taken care of by his maternal grandmother. Nascimento was then adopted as a young child by the relatives of the grandmother's former employers; Josino Brito Campos, a bank employee, mathematics teacher and electronic technician and Lília Silva Campos, a music teacher and choir singer. He moved with his adoptive parents to the city of
Três Pontas, in the state of
Minas Gerais. When Nascimento was a child, he was nicknamed "Bituca" because he pouted when he was upset, which made him look like a native
botocudo. Nascimento was also an occasional DJ on a radio station that his father once ran. He lived in the neighborhoods of
Laranjeiras and
Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro. In 1968, Nascimento was married to a student named Lurdeca in Tijuca. The couple lived in
Copabacana, though the marriage only lasted a month, later being annulled. After this, he chose to dedicate his time to music instead of marrying or having kids, however, he would later adopt a son, Augusto Kesrouani do Nascimento, in 2016 after ten years of knowing him.
Clube da Esquina , 1967. In the early stages of his career, Nascimento played in two
samba groups, Evolussamba and Sambacana. He would also play in the group W's Boys alongside
Wagner Tiso in
Três Pontas. In 1962, he recorded his first song "Barulho de Trem." A year later, in 1963, he moved to
Belo Horizonte, where his friendship with
Lô Borges led to the
Clube da Esquina ("street corner club") movement. Members included
Beto Guedes,
Toninho Horta,
Wagner Tiso, and
Flávio Venturini, with whom he shared compositions and melodies. One composition was "Canção do Sal", which was first covered by singer
Elis Regina in 1966, and led to a television appearance with Nascimento. In 1967, he entered the
Festival Internacional da Canção after Agostinho dos Santos had sent in three of his tracks to the search committee. He placed second with "Travessia" ("Bridges") and was able to score a three-album contract with
Creed Taylor who had been in attendance. He moved to the United States to record with Taylor, beginning with the album
Courage in 1969. Nascimento's compositions include songs such as "Nada Será Como Antes" ("Nothing Will Be As It Was"), "Maria, Maria", "Canção da América" ("Song from America"/"Unencounter"), "Bailes da Vida", and "Coração de Estudante" ("Student's Heart"), a song about the funeral of Edson Luís, who was killed by police officers in 1968. The song became the
hymn for the
Diretas Já social-political campaign in 1984, was played at the funeral of President-elect
Tancredo Neves the next year, and was also played at
Ayrton Senna's funeral.
Diversification While his reputation within Brazil was firmly established with his Clube da Esquina works, Nascimento's international breakthrough came with his appearance on
jazz saxophonist
Wayne Shorter's 1974 album
Native Dancer. The piece paid homage to the poetry of Nascimento and
Carlos Drummond de Andrade, two "iconic" poets from
Minas Gerais.
Collaborations and farewell tour in the 2025
Brazilian Carnival. In 2020, Nascimento released
Existe Amor, a four-track collaborative EP with
São Paulo rapper
Criolo. The EP was part of the
Existe Amor project, a campaign for a solidarity fund for Brazilians in socially vulnerable conditions during the
coronavirus pandemic. The campaign's launch took place via projections on buildings in São Paulo to encourage donations to organizations such as É de Lei, SP Invisível and Arsenal da Esperança, among others. On October 26, 2021, on his 79th birthday, Nascimento announced his 2022 farewell tour
A Última Sessão de Música (The Last Music Session) on social media, although he would later state that he was not quitting music. The title of the tour is a reference to the track of the same name on his 1973 album
Milagre dos Peixes. He played his last show on November 13, 2022, at the
Mineirão stadium in
Belo Horizonte. On November 15, 2023, Nascimento released
Outros Cantos, a collaborative album with
sertanejo duo
Chitãozinho & Xororó. On May 15, 2024, Nascimento announced a new album with American musician and songwriter
Esperanza Spalding titled
Milton + Esperanza. Recorded in Brazil in 2023, it was released on August 9, 2024, via
Concord Records and received critical acclaim from music critics. The album was nominated for
Best Jazz Vocal Album at the
67th Annual Grammy Awards. On October 29, 2024, Nascimento released the collaborative EP
Moon Over Minas with American musician and producer
Jonathan Wilson. The EP was recorded while Wilson was on tour in Brazil. Although Milton stated that he would be retiring from live concerts and tours, was published on August 7, 2024, featuring him, Esperanza Spalding,
Guinga,
Maria Gadú, among other artists performing five songs from the album. As NPR Music states in the description of the performance on YouTube, "it’s likely to be the only video performance of this music". ==Health==