LENY ANDRADE is universally recognized as one of the foremost singers of Brazilian jazz and bossa nova. Since the '60s at the Bottle's Bar in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, to her appearance at the Smithsonian Theater in Washington, D.C. in 1999, she has been refining the art of interpreting the songs of composers like the late Tom Jobim, her close friend and creator of Brazil's bossa nova music movement.

A native of Rio de Janiero, she began musical studies as a young child. She first sang professionally at the age of 15, and her career began to soar in the late 1950s with the rise of bossa nova.

Pre-eminent in Brazil for more than 40 years, Andrade is now recognized world-wide as one of the definitive jazz vocalists of her generation, a dynamically talented singer whose ability to blend samba and jazz sensibilities is unrivaled. She has appeared at many of Europe's premiere jazz festivals, at leading U.S. jazz venues, and throughout Mexico and Japan. Andrade made her Hollywood Bowl debut in 1994 with Oscar Castro-Neves.

She has worked with many of Brazil's top stars, including Antonio Carlos Jobim and Sergio Mendes, and with other jazz artists such as Paquito D'Rivera, who included his composition "For Leny" on his 1990 release, Manhattan Burn. Her own 1991 recording, Luz Neon, featured tributes to Ella Fitzgerald, Cleo Laine, and blues singers, as well as bossa nova and samba tunes. Maiden Voyage (Chesky) was her first recording in North America, followed by albums such as New Bossas.