Tom Zé

Tom Zé (born José Thomaz Pereira Júnior in 1936 in Irará, Bahia) is a Brazilian composer and singer who was a peripheral figure in the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s before being largely forgotten and then rediscovered. His albums for Philips in the late 1960s and early 1970s — including Grande Liquidação (1968) and Todos os Olhos (1973) — combined avant-garde experimentation with Brazilian popular song in ways that were too eccentric for commercial radio.

After years of obscurity, he was rediscovered by David Byrne, who signed him to Luaka Bop in the early 1990s.