Johnny Alf
| Johnny Alf | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alfredo Jos da Silva |
| Born |
May 19, 1929 Rio de Janeiro |
| Died | March 4, 2010 (aged 80) Santo André, Brazil |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, teacher |
Alfredo José da Silva (May 19, 1929 – March 4, 2010), popularly known as Johnny Alf, was a Brazilian musician, sometimes known as the "Father of Bossa Nova".
Alf was born in Vila Isabel, Rio de Janeiro, and began playing piano at age 9. His father died when he was 3 and he was raised by his mother who worked as a maid to raise him. He attended Colégio Pedro II, receiving support from his mother's employers. He played in nightclubs in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio, where he was noticed by later bossa nova pioneers. His first single, "Falseta" was released in 1952, with a debut album following in 1961.
Over his career, he recorded nine albums and appeared on nearly fifty others. He died in 2010, aged 80, from prostate cancer.
Johnny Alf (b. Alfredo José da Silva) was born on May 19, 1929, in Vila Isabel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His family was of low socio-economic class relative to his musical colleagues. Alf was raised almost exclusively by his mother, his father having perished in combat in the valley of Paraíba when Alfredo was only three years of age, a casualty of the Brazilian Civil War of 1932. Following the death of Alfredo’s father the family of two moved to Tijuca, a small town just Southwest of Rio de Janeiro where Alf’s mother had found employment and lodgings as a household maid. The family of the household, as well as being very welcoming to both Johnny and his mother, had much respect for music and supported Alf as he began to discover the art form. Alfredo’s mother was able to enroll him at the IBEU (Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos or Brazilian-American Institute), and it was there that Alf received his first formal musical training, studying classical piano with instructor Geni Bálsamo; it was there too that young Alfredo earned the Americanized nickname that would accompany him through the entirety of his musical career. Due to his purported shyness Alf spent much more of his time listening to records (the music of the Nat “King” Cole Trio (Nat King Cole) and of the strongly classically influenced English pianist George Shearing being specific favorites) than practicing his technical skills on the piano. It was Alf’s growing desire to enhance his technical abilities on the piano that led him to seek acceptance into the recently founded Sinatra-Farney Fan Club. The Sinatra-Farney Fan Club was a performer’s collective of sorts, an appreciation for the crooning vocal jazz epitomized by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Brazilian born Dick Farney (b. Farnésio Dutra, a Carioca) being the thread that unified all of its members. Alf’s membership in the club finally allowed him regular access to a piano (which he was permitted to use for practice only on weeknights that had no other scheduled club activities), as well as a group of musically sympathetic peers with which to play and experiment. The jam sessions held by the Sinatra-Farney Fan Club provided Alf his first taste of collaborative music-making and public, musical performance, the club’s status being respectable enough around Rio for its members to be allowed to play (without pay) venues such as the Tijuca Tennis Club, the Fluminense Club, and the Athletic Association of the Bank of Brazil. In 1950 the death of the mother of two of the founding members stranded the club without a rehearsal headquarters and it was at this point that Alf began to pursue a professional musical career.
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