Lani Hall interview from 1960s (or any other band members?)

Before posting here, I ran a bit of a search of this forum to avoid asking a duplicate question. (This forum has been around so much (for so many years) with so many valuable contributions...)

I don't see any mention of any interview of the band members of Brasil '66 from the 1960s.
In particular, I'm curious if Lani Hall was asked questions back in the 1960s. She's done interviews later (in more recent years). And, Sergio was the big name, but even his interviews (that I can find) are mostly post-1960s.

It wasn't like the Beatles, who were doing press conferences almost every day (during tours, particularly).
Sergio was keeping his "backing" musicians relatively anonymous and inter-changeable, right?

I saw a few mentions (on YouTube comments and maybe this forum) of fans meeting the band (back-stage after concerts) back in late 1960s concerts.
 
So, nobody knows of any interview of band members of/from Brasil '66 -- done back in the 1960s?

I would love to be able to hear what Lani's speaking voice sounded like, back-then.
Maybe it was better that she didn't have to speak much in interviews -- since having to speak more would not have helped her singing voice.

When I think about it, in most cases of (self-contained) bands, the lead singer is the most famous member of a band -- the focal point -- and therefore is usually the (main) focus of attention by the media, and therefore is interviewed the most. The lead singer (who has a microphone when on-stage) also usually does most or all of the stage announcements, as well.
In addition, for those reasons, the fans will more often have more interest in meet-and-greet with the lead singer, more than other members, usually.
But in the case of Sergio's Brasil '66, the band was not called Lani Hall and Brasil '66.

Just how individually-famous was Lani, back in 1968, -- at the peak of the band's popularity? I'm guessing, not much. Most fans saw her as one of two female lead voices who were co-equal. Obviously, the presentation/image of the band perpetuated that notion/perception.)
 
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In those days you didn't really see many interviews of "band members" when the band was named after and/or led by one person -- same reason vintage interviews of members of the TJB are rare, but there are lots of articles featuring Herb Alpert.

I would bet that Lani Hall is more well-known by name today, due to her touring with Herb, than she ever was during her Sergio Mendes days.
 
I think Sergio himself may have been a little protective of his name and the fact that it was *his* group. Any speaking with show hosts was always with Sergio and never the band members.
 
I think that Lani Hall was best known after Sergio as for those in the group. Fans were disappointed when she left the group, but she went on to have a good solo career with albums in English, Spanish and one in Portuguese. In fact, she won a GRAMMY for one of her Spanish albums, ES FACIL AMAR. I don't think that her solo career would have been as good without her previous notoriety and fan base from her Brasil '66 days. Finally, I don't think that the intuitive guy was so intuitive in this case.
 
For that matter, can anyone point me to an(y) interview of Sergio from the 1960s? I know of several in later (more recent) years. I do know of a booklet / tour programme from the 1970 tour in which there are a few snippets of quotes from Sergio.
One quote, I can recall -- Sergio said that he thought of the two women who sang lead as if they were just instruments in a band -- that they could just as well be sax players from eastern Europe ("Czechoslovakia").
 
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I do know of the Hollywood Palace TV show in late 1967, in which Herb asked Sergio about how his band came about, and Sergio started telling the story in Portuguese (about the Bottle Alley in Rio), and the American audience laughed. That was more of a skit, than a real interview.
 
I think Sergio himself may have been a little protective of his name and the fact that it was *his* group. Any speaking with show hosts was always with Sergio and never the band members.

and --
In those days you didn't really see many interviews of "band members" when the band was named after and/or led by one person -- same reason vintage interviews of members of the TJB are rare, but there are lots of articles featuring Herb Alpert.

That makes sense.

The thing is -- to me -- when I hear the B'66 recordings, what I am really hearing, most-prominently is Lani's voice.
I hear the drums, particularly + I hear Lani's voice. Sergio's piano is mostly accompaniment, filling in the middle of the music, with chords. That's how _I_ interpret what I'm hearing. Maybe that's just me. (e.g. The sublime "Night and Day" has no piano solo.)


In Herb's production of the first three Brasil '66 albums, he treated Lani's lead vocals (The female voices were mostly Lani Hall on LPs #2, and 3, and all Lani on #1 (the debut).) much the way he did his trumpet on the T.J.B. (early) recordings.
Herb didn't double-track the piano.


I don't hear the B'66 recordings as quite piano-dominated. But maybe others do. Anyway, this thread isn't about that. I shouldn't have brought that up.

I'm just saying that -- to me, personally -- the star of the group should have been (and is, in my own heart) Lani Hall. That's just my (unique) interpretation of B'66 and its sound. My feelings, interpretations and ideas reflect that view-point.
 
I think Sergio himself may have been a little protective of his name and the fact that it was *his* group. Any speaking with show hosts was always with Sergio and never the band members.
Of course, yes.

Let me indulge in a bit of musing, here --


On one hand, the idea that the main singer -- the lead vocalist -- is thought of as a "backing musician"
is a bit strange to me, in a way.


But, visually, in terms of image and presentation -- Lani was no more prominent than the _other_ woman.

But still, those two ladies were the female front line.
( However, Sergio was pretty much center-stage, and pretty visually-prominent, too. I don't think Sergio had great charisma, though. Maybe Sergio was convinced that people came to see him, in particular. Did Sergio think he was pin-up material ? : )


But maybe there is a bit of a parallel between that and band-leader / arrangers like :

  • Ray Conniff

    [*]
    Lawrence Welk

    [*]
    even Mitch Miller ?


Maybe others on this forum can fill in other examples (from the pre-Rock era).
 
Recently, I found an ad for drum equipment (from around 1966 or 1967) featuring Joao Palma. (That was probably posted on this forum, right?)
In the cases of the instrumentalists of Brasil '66 -- if B'66 had gotten big in the 1980s (or any recent decade), they would have been interviewed by respective magazines that focus on each instrument, like Modern Drummer.

There would have been a feature and interview on Bob Mathews in a Bass Player magazine, or the like.
 
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