Biography

Nelson Sargento (born Nelson Mattos) OMC (25 July 1924 – 27 May 2021) was a Brazilian composer, singer, Brazilian popular music researcher, visual artist, actor, and writer.

Having lived in Mangueira since the age of 12, Nelson became known as one of the most important samba musicians of Estação Primeira de Mangueira, of which he was a member and president of the school's composers' wing, as well as its honorary president.

His artistic nickname "Sargento" alluded to the rank he attained for having served in the Brazilian Army in the second half of the 1940s. He gained notability as a singer at the famed Zicartola lounge and, shortly thereafter, as a member of the ensembles A Voz do Morro and Os Cinco Crioulos in the 1960s. But it was only in 1979, at the age of 55, that the composer recorded his first solo album. Throughout his life, the sambista composed more than 400 compositions.

In addition to his musical career, Nelson was a painter and poet, having published the books "Prisioneiro do Mundo" and "Um certo Geraldo Pereira." He also made appearances in the films "O Primeiro Dia" and "Orfeu", and was the subject of the documentary "Nelson Sargento da Mangueira." He was born on 25 July 1924, to Rosa Maria da Conceição, a maid and cook, and Olímpio José de Mattos, a cook. While living with his mother in Tijuca, Nelson had little relation with his father Olimpio who died of gangrene while Nelson was still young; a pan of hot water fell on his foot in a restaurant kitchen and, left untreated, he died.

His mother left her domestic worker job to live in the Salgueiro favela, in a rented shack. To support herself, she began washing the clothes of several families. Nelson would then deliver the washed clothes to the nearby neighbourhood of Tijuca. It was there, in the favela of Salgueiro, that Nelson, then ten years old, learned about samba, marching with and playing tambourine in the "Azul e Branco" school. There were two other schools there: "Unidos do Salgueiro" and "Depois eu Digo". José Casemiro, (known as Calça Larga), a leader in the favela, united them all, thus creating Acadêmicos do Salgueiro.

Shortly after, Nelson and his mother moved into the home of her partner Alfredo Lourenço, an important composer for the Estação Primeira de Mangueira samba school, located in the neighborhood of Mangueira.