Everyday Creation
This show has to do with different kinds of creation: human, divine, and a third kind that connects the two. Our human creativity is easy to talk about because clearly we're prolific creators. We make music, we write, we cook; we establish businesses, we design gardens, we invent things. The list goes on and on. Another kind of creation is divine. We feel its presence when, for example, we contemplate birth, death, our life purpose, or have a quiet realization that there's something bigger than us. The third kind is perhaps a little more difficult to grasp and yet, with a little practice, it's easy to put into action. This is the personal power each of us has to direct our thoughts, words and actions every day toward what we want in our life and world, rather than what we don't want.
This sounds heavier than it is. For me, this show is an acknowledgment that while we're all here to learn and grow and do our best, there's still plenty of opportunity to relax, laugh, love, and enjoy this playground we call life. So my hope is that you'll get some enjoyment and illumination out of these episodes. Here you'll find interviews with delightfully creative individuals; short stories about some who have passed away; and essays about personal power.
I'm Kate Jones, host and creator of Everyday Creation. Thank you for following my show.
Everyday Creation
Sérgio Mendes Forged a Successful Career with Talent, Perseverance and a Little Help from Herb Alpert
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Sérgio Mendes had a 60-year career, marked by perseverance and a decision to stay in the U.S. after a lukewarm tour. His success in the U.S. began after being signed by trumpeter Herb Alpert and forming Brasil '66 with two female singers. The group went on to have three Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 and two Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the late 1960s.
Mendes' first American hit was "Mas que Nada," reaching number 47 on the singles chart in 1966. Forty years later, he did the song with the Black Eyed Peas. It reached number six in the UK.
You can go here to watch him perform the song in 1967 with Brasil '66. And there are a few videos on YouTube that feature the version with Mendes and the Black Eyed Peas. Your choice.
I thought it would be fun to also feature a different song, "That Heat," with Mendes, will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, and Erykah Badu. Go here to watch the video.
The photo in this episode's chapters and thumbnail is of Mendes in 1971. It's attributed to Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.
Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in major podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.
Sheldon:
00:00:02.400 --> 00:00:05.060
Without Sérgio Mendes' perseverance,
00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:08.160
he might never have had the 60-year
00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:09.300
career he did.
00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:12.800
Mendes decided to stay in the U.S. after
00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:14.740
a lukewarm American tour
00:00:15.105 --> 00:00:17.585
even though other members of his group returned
00:00:17.585 --> 00:00:18.245
to Brazil.
00:00:19.105 --> 00:00:20.245
Mendes' stubbornness
00:00:20.545 --> 00:00:21.285
paid off.
00:00:22.145 --> 00:00:24.485
Mendes died September 5
00:00:24.705 --> 00:00:27.525
in a Los Angeles hospital from long COVID.
00:00:27.825 --> 00:00:29.285
He was 83.
00:00:30.050 --> 00:00:32.050
The Song of the Day is paying tribute
00:00:32.050 --> 00:00:35.170
to the singers, musicians and songwriters who died
00:00:35.170 --> 00:00:36.630
in 2024.
00:00:37.650 --> 00:00:40.310
Mendes thought he would be a classical pianist
00:00:40.530 --> 00:00:42.630
until one day when he was 16,
00:00:43.175 --> 00:00:45.815
he heard Dave Brubeck and fell in love
00:00:45.815 --> 00:00:48.615
with jazz, according to his New York Times
00:00:48.615 --> 00:00:49.115
obituary.
00:00:49.975 --> 00:00:52.695
He soon was playing in jazz bands, which
00:00:52.695 --> 00:00:54.475
earned him a trip to the U.S.
00:00:55.350 --> 00:00:59.050
Mendes' success in the U.S. coincided with trumpeter
00:00:59.190 --> 00:01:01.130
Herb Alpert signing him.
00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:04.470
Mendes added two female singers to his new
00:01:04.470 --> 00:01:06.490
group, Brasil '66.
00:01:07.515 --> 00:01:10.415
Mendes' music was the opposite of the popular
00:01:10.475 --> 00:01:11.935
rock and roll of the day.
00:01:12.475 --> 00:01:16.095
Brasil '66's first job didn't go smoothly.
00:01:16.795 --> 00:01:19.435
The resort they were playing at fired them
00:01:19.435 --> 00:01:22.155
because the patrons were complaining they couldn't dance
00:01:22.155 --> 00:01:22.975
to the music.
00:01:24.070 --> 00:01:25.930
Alpert knew what to do with Mendes.
00:01:26.550 --> 00:01:29.590
Brasil '66 had three Top 10 albums
00:01:29.590 --> 00:01:31.130
on the Billboard 200
00:01:31.510 --> 00:01:33.930
and two Top 10 hits on the Billboard
00:01:34.070 --> 00:01:37.050
Hot 100 singles chart in the late
00:01:37.110 --> 00:01:37.610
1960s.
00:01:38.865 --> 00:01:41.745
Mendes had many lulls during his career, but
00:01:41.745 --> 00:01:44.085
he would make phoenix-like returns,
00:01:45.105 --> 00:01:48.065
touring with Frank Sinatra and recording with Black
00:01:48.065 --> 00:01:48.885
Eyed Peas,
00:01:49.345 --> 00:01:52.405
John Legend, Pharrell Williams and others.
00:01:54.140 --> 00:01:54.640
"Mas que Nada"
00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:57.200
was his first American hit.
00:01:57.900 --> 00:01:58.400
Brazilian
00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:02.620
Jorge Ben wrote and recorded it two years
00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:03.600
before Mendes.
00:02:04.460 --> 00:02:08.155
Mendes' version reached 47 on the singles chart
00:02:08.155 --> 00:02:09.775
in 1966.
00:02:10.875 --> 00:02:13.835
His version with the Black Eyed Peas reached
00:02:13.835 --> 00:02:15.215
number six in England
00:02:15.675 --> 00:02:16.955
nearly 40
00:02:16.955 --> 00:02:17.455
later.
Kate:
00:02:22.620 --> 00:02:25.340
That was Song of the Day creator Sheldon
00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:25.840
Zoldan.
00:02:26.380 --> 00:02:29.120
And I'm Kate Jones, host of Everyday Creation.
00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:31.690
Thank you for joining us.
