Gerson King Combo

The Rei do Soul

Gérson Rodrigues Côrtes was born on November 30, 1943 in Rio de Janeiro (MusicBrainz and Last.fm say 1944) and died there on September 22, 2020, aged 76. He was nicknamed the Brazilian James Brown and the Rei do Soul. At 17 he was a mime at Rádio Mayrink Veiga, and in 1963 a lip-sync performer and dancer on Hoje é Dia de Rock. In 1965 he choreographed for Jovem Guarda on Rede Record, and Chacrinha invited him to choreograph the chacretes. In the late 1960s he was a crooner for Renato e Seus Blue Caps and the Fevers and then Fórmula 7, with four albums 1968 to 1970. In 1969 he choreographed Wilson Simonal's De Cabral a Simonal, toured with Simonal and Som Três, met Stevie Wonder and James Brown, and adopted the name Gerson King Combo, taken from the American group the King Curtis Combo. His influences include Little Richard, James Brown, King Curtis and Chubby Checker.

Brazilian Soul, with Turma do Soul, came in 1969 or 1970 on Polydor. In 1970 he joined Dom Salvador and Grupo Abolição at the V Festival Internacional da Canção with "Abolição 1860-1960". The Jornal do Brasil ran Lena Frias's Black Rio feature on July 17, 1976. Gerson King Combo (1977, Polydor), backed by União Black, was followed by Gerson King Combo Volume II (1978), which sold less. "Melô do Mão Branca" (Sinter, 1980) was a rap single with lyrics by Paulo Coelho. In the 1980s and 1990s he left music to work as an event producer, was rediscovered in 1998 through Regina Casé's Muvuca, and released Mensageiro da Paz (2001, Warner Music Brasil) and Soul da Paz (2009). He received the Ordem do Mérito Cultural from President Lula, had a Portela float at the 2013 Rio Carnival, and sang "Mandamentos Black" in a 2016 Netflix campaign for The Get Down.

In 2019 he recorded the live album Gerson King Combo 70 anos at the Teatro Rival with SuperGroove, and in February 2020 released the single "Deixe sair o suor". The documentary Gerson King Combo: O Filme, directed by David Obadia, was streamed on Itaú Cultural Play in August 2023. Marcelo D2 used lines from "Mandamentos Black" in "Qual É?". OkayAfrica reports the Black Rio dances drew audiences of 30,000 and that the military regime saw the movement as suspect. Vampi Soul reissued the 1977 album on 180-gram vinyl, remastered from the original tapes.