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Biography
- Birthdate November 14, 1921
- place of birth Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Deceased August 4, 1987 (aged 65)
Farnésio Dutra e Silva / Dick Farney
14.11.1921 Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
04.08.1987 São Paulo (SP)
The voice of the Master / Synthesis of elegance and modernity.
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Dick Farney studied classical piano and soon began performing classical works on local radio stations. In 1937, he began working as a singer, and was later hired by the Radio Mayrink Veiga station, where he had his own program, “Dick Farney, his voice and his piano.”
Dick Farney’s musical career was enviable in every way. He was part of the main Jazz groups and popular music orchestras, performing on the most important musical stages of the time, such as the Urca Casino in Rio de Janeiro. He also participated in numerous radio and TV programs. His repertoire was mainly dedicated to the great standards of the USA.
In the 1940s, he traveled to the United States, where he met and shared the bill with Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Davis Brubeck, Bill Evans, etc. Due to his marked personal style, he made his shows an attraction in the most prestigious Night Clubs in New York and Hollywood.
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After the American stage, Farney returned to Brazil with a suitcase full of MPB hits that made them famous abroad, such as “Marina” (Dorival Caymmi). His musical career had a turning point: It was the recording in August 1946 of the samba-canção “Copacabana” by João de Barro (Braguinha) & Alberto Ribeira, in which Dick Farney simply reinvented MPB (Brazilian Popular Music).
Nobody in all of Brazil showed off his prominence. There even came to exist in Rio de Janeiro, a Club formed by young musical activists with an avant-garde spirit, the Sinatra-Farney Fan Club.
Farney later became involved in the Bossa Nova movement, performing some classics such as “Tereza da Praia” (Tom Jobim & Billy Blanco), singing a duet with Lúcio Alves. He was also part of the first recording of “Sinfonia do Rio de Janeiro”, by the same composers, in 1954.
The young people who frequented Nara Leão’s apartment in the mid-1950s (Carlinhos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Ronaldo Bôscoli, Chico Feitosa, Oscar Castro Neves) adored Dick Farney.
Listening to his piano and voice on his records, they recognized the elegance and sophistication that they identified with the Jazz and American music that they so admired.
It was Dick Farney, without knowing it, who influenced them musically, prompting them to believe that it was possible to make an equivalent modern Brazilian music.
Dick, was everything they wanted to be when they grew up…, he was the role model for those youths who, one day, would make Bossa Nova.
That romantic singer sang, as if he were speaking only to a single woman, directly whispering in her ear…
As it could not be otherwise, Dick Farney, icon of romantic singer, died proposing to his wife in a hospital in São Paulo.
In one of his last interviews, he commented that among the hundreds of songs he performed in his life, his favorite was: “Este seu olhar / Tom Jobim”
Dick Farney is the authentic “crooner” of Brazilian musical history.
Dick Farney – Marina (by Dorival Caymmi)
Excertos do programa MPB Especial, comandado por Fernando Faro, com Dick Farney. Músicos participantes: Sabá (contrabaixo) e Toninho Pinheiro (bateria) Emissão TV Cultura, 1972.