The renowned guitarist of Titãs, Tony Belloto, who is also a TV presenter and writer with several published books and columns in newspapers, he has Italian blood in his veins. Bearer of dual citizenship, the talented musician is one of the most famous representatives of the Italian-Brazilian community.
Born in São Paulo on June 30, 1960, Antonio Carlos Liberalli Belloto is the son of Heloísa Liberalli Bellotto, well-known university professor and doctor in archival science, and the historian Manuel Bellotto.
Tony Belloto's two parents are direct Italian descendants of Treviso, city in the region of Veneto, in Italy.
Manuel is the grandson of Enrico Belloto, who left her hometown in the wake of the immigration flow that brought thousands of Italians to São Paulo at the end of the 19th century. And Heloisa is the great-great-granddaughter of the violinist Giovanni Liberalli, who arrived from Treviso to Rio de Janeiro in 1823, brought by the court of Dom Pedro I.
Tony's parents married in the 1950s and from this union was born the famous guitarist and author of detective novels, who remains to this day in the São Paulo band Titãs, currently celebrating 40 years on the road with the release of the album Olho Furta-Cor.
Tony Belloto and the Titans
The story of Titãs began at the end of the 1970s, when almost all of the band's members studied at College Team, in São Paulo. The exceptions were precisely Tony Belloto and the drummer charles gavin.
The group's classic lineup had eight members. In addition to Belloto and Gavin, the band had Paulo Miklos, White Mello, Sérgio Brito, Marcelo Fromer, Nando Reis e Arnaldo Antunes.
In the early years, the band had nine members, including Ciro Pessoa. In total, there were six vocalists, including main singers and backing vocalists.
The group's first drummer was André Jung, who was replaced by Charles Gavin in 1985, in a “drummer change”, as Jung went to play at Will!, where Gavin came from.
While Arnaldo Antunes, Branco Mello and Ciro Pessoa sang and provided backing vocals, Sergio Britto, Nando Reis and Paulo Miklos, in addition to singing, they took turns playing the keyboards and bass. Marcelo Fromer played the rhythm guitar and Tony Belloto was the solo guitarist.
TV shows and controversies
Ciro Pessoa left the group even before the release of the band's first album, in 1984. The album was simply titled Titans, the newly adopted name of the group, which was previously called Titans of Iê-Iê-Iê. This first release yielded success Sleepy Island and began appearing on television programs, such as get-together e Raul Gil.
With the release of the second album, Television (1985), made by Lulu Santos, the group continued to be successful. However, in November 1985, Tony Belloto and Arnaldo Antunes were arrested. While Belotto was accused of heroin possession, Arnaldo Antunes was arrested for a month for possession and trafficking of heroin.
Creative peak
Poor sales, despite visibility in TV programs, and the controversies in which they became involved closed the band's first phase. It was from the third album, Dinosaur Head (1986), that the group began to accumulate successes, positive reviews and tours throughout Brazil.
With production from the legendary lime, former bassist Mutants, Cabeça Dinosauro featured songs like Police, State Violence, Scrotum Animals e primate man.
After that, the band recorded Jesus Has No Teeth in the Land of Toothless (1987) e Õ Blésq Blom (1989), which for many together with Cabeça Dinossauro form the trio of albums that represents the group's creative peak. Among the songs from this phase are Lunch time, Any place, Names for Oxen, Misery, Flores e The Pulse.
Following this, Titãs released a live album, Go Back (1988) e Everything at the Same Time Now (1991), last album with Arnaldo Antunes, the first to leave the group. In 1993 the group released the album Titanomachy, produced by Jack Endino, who had worked with the Nirvana.
Tony Belloto and Bellini
Taking advantage of the band's hiatus, in 1995, Tony Belloto released his first book, Bellini and the Sphinx, which began the series of books with the presence of investigator Bellini. The others were Bellini and the Demon (1997), Bellini and the Spirits (2005) e Bellini and the Labyrinth (2014).
Returning to work, the band released Sunday (1995) and in 1997 participated in the project MTV Acoustic, selling more than 1,7 million records and touring all corners of the country.
Taking advantage of their success, Titãs released the album in 1998 Volume Two, with reinterpretations of old hits, and sold 1 million copies.
Tragedy and more exits
In 2001, the group would suffer a major blow with the death of Marcelo Fromer, after being run over by a motorcycle in São Paulo. The following year, it was Nando Reis's turn to leave the band to concentrate on his solo projects.
Afterwards, the group released the albums Top Ten (1999), Last Week's Best Band of All Time (2001), How Are You (2003) e Plastic Bags (2009), the last with drummer Charles Gavin.
Then they came Nheengatu (2014) and in 2016 it was the turn of Paulo Miklos leave the group to focus on his solo career and work as an actor. The most recent discs are Twelve Yellow Flowers (2018), Titãs Trio Acústico (2021) e Iridescent Eye (2022).
Creative environment
History tells that the origin of the name Titans of Iê-Iê-Iê, which was later shortened to Titãs, refers to the band's first rehearsals, in library from the house of Tony's parents, Manuel and Heloisa, where there were books like Titans of Science, Titans of Sport e Titans of Literature, Among others.
Thus, the name of one of the most successful rock bands in Brazil emerged, with more than 6,3 million albums sold, partnerships with several Brazilian and international artists and awards such as the Latin Grammy 2009.
Tony Belloto was nominated four times as “best instrumentalist”, one of them for the Contigo Award! MPB FM in 2014 and the others at Multishow Award, in 1998, 1999 and 2000, when he was the winner.
His career as a guitarist began in Assisi, where he lived with his family and spent his childhood, at a time when his mother, Heloisa, taught History at the Unesp campus located in the interior city.
Tony Belloto's versatility
Belloto also presents the program Tuning the Tongue, at Futura channel, and wrote the books BR163: Two Stories on the Road (2001), The Guitarist's Book (2001), The Sleepless (2007), In the Hole (2010), Lô (2018) e Sun (2020), Among others.
In 2001, the director Roberto Santucci Filho adapted and filmed the book Bellini and the Sphinx. The feature film featured the participation of Fábio assunção as the detective and Malu mader playing a prostitute. The film won the Audience Award for Best Fiction Feature Film at the Rio BR Festival 2001.
In 2006, the director Marcelo Galvão adapted the second book, Bellini and the Devil, again with the participation of Fábio Assunção.
Tony Belloto launched the children's book in 2015 Family, in partnership with Arnaldo Antunes and with illustrations by Loro Verz. Until 2012, he also had a column in Veja magazine and from 2013 onwards he started writing in O Globo newspaper.
Personal life
The Titãs guitarist had a relationship in the late 80s with actress Giulia Gam. After the breakup, he started dating actress Malu Mader, with whom he has been married since 1990 and has two children: João Mäder Bellotto, born in 1995, and Antonio Mäder Bellotto, born in 1997. The musician is also the father of Nina, the result of a previous relationship, with Ana Paula Silveira.
Tony Bellotto is one of many natives who submitted the consular protocol and obtained the Italian passport permitted by dual citizenship.
Among his influences, he cites the American guitarist Jimi Hendrix, the first musician who made him fall in love with rock. He also cites as influences the Young guard, the Beatles and Brazilian artists such as Caetano Veloso, João Gilberto e Luiz Melodia.
As an avid reader, who would later become a writer, he cites admiration for names like Jorge Amado, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville e Ruben Fonseca.
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