Launcher of several classics of Brazilian popular music, Noite Ilustrada recorded many albums in his prolific career, having success with A Flor e o Espinho (Nelson Cavaquinho/Guilherme de Brito/Alcides Caminha), O Neguinho e a Senhorita (Noel Rosa de Oliveira/Abelardo da Silva), Depois do Carnaval (Jorge Costa/Paulo Roberto), Sim (Cartola/Osvaldo Martins), Barracão (Luís Antônio/Oldemar Magalhães), and Balada NO 7 -- Mané Garrincha (Alberto Luís). Moving to Rio de Janeiro in the mid-'50s, Noite Ilustrada joined the Portela samba school. Still in that decade, he moved to São Paulo, where worked in nightclubs as a singer and was hired in 1958 by Rádio Nacional and TV Paulista. Noite Ilustrada recorded his first album in that year, with the samba Cara de Boboca (Jaime Silva/Edmundo Andrade) and Castiguei. He would only have a hit four years later with Paulo Vanzolini's samba Volta Por Cima, turned into a classic that was re-recorded several times. The first LP also came that year, O Ilustre. ~ Alvaro Neder, Rovi