Marcos Valle

Issued in Brazil as Som Livre 403.6282, with a cardboard inner sleeve carrying the lyrics and credits, it was produced by Lincoln Olivetti, who also arranged and conducted, and Paulo Sérgio Valle, with Max Pierre as production manager and Andy Mills recording and mixing. Valle played Fender Rhodes; he told Mr Bongo that the Rhodes and the bass are the soul of his music. Sessions often started at 2 a.m., and nearly forty musicians took part. The cover was meant to introduce him to a younger audience: he cut his hair, and Pierre staged the photographs behind fruit juices.

Estrelar sold about 90,000 copies, close to a gold record, and Mr Bongo calls the album his best-selling record. It has been reissued many times, in France, Japan, Norway, Spain and Brazil, and by Mr Bongo in the UK in 2021, including a half-speed master cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road.