Vital Dias

Os Paralamas do Sucesso
Os Paralamas do Sucesso performing live in Brasília, in October 2008.
Background information
Origin	Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Genres	Alternative rock, pop rock, reggae rock,ska punk
Years active	1977–present
Labels	EMI
Website	Official website
Members	Herbert Vianna Bi Ribeiro João Barone
Past members	Vital Dias

Os Paralamas do Sucesso (also known simply as Paralamas) is a Brazilian rock band, formed in Seropédica in the late 1970s. Its members since 1982 are Herbert Vianna (guitar and lead vocals), Bi Ribeiro (bass), and João Barone (drums). In its beginning, the band combined reggae and ska with rock, but later added horn arrangements and Latin rhythms.

Although considered part of the "Brasília gang", because they lived there and were friends with local bands, Paralamas' proper birthplace was Seropédica. Herbert Vianna and Felipe "Bi" Ribeiro were childhood friends and neighbors in that city. Herbert's father was in the military, while Bi's was a diplomat. In 1977, Herbert went to Rio to attend military school, and met Bi once again. They decided to form a band, Herbert with his Gibson guitar and Bi, which had no musical training whatsoever, with a bass guitar bought during a trip to England. The drummer Vital Dias would later join them. They parted ways in 1979, around the time all of them were busy studying for their vestibular tests, but resumed their musical activity in 1981.

The trio rehearsed in the house of Bi's grandmother (which provided inspiration for the song "Vovó Ondina é Gente Fina", or "Grandma Ondina is Really Cool") and in a farm in Mendes, and performed in small venues. Their setlist was not quite serious (with songs like "Pingüins, Já Não Os Vejo Pois Não Está na Estação", or "I No Longer See Penguins, Because They're Out of Season"), and they tried to create a name for the band in the same spirit, with the first option being "As Cadeirinhas da Vovó", or "Grandma's Little Chairs". The name "Paralamas do Sucesso" (meaning "Mudflaps of Success") was coined by Bi, and adopted because all three of them thought it was really funny. In the beginning, Herbert was only the guitar player, and the group had two lead singers, Ronel e Naldo, both of whom departed in 1982.