Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer, record producer, and actress.

Diana Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that has included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award. She has won seven American Music Awards, was honored with a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 18 number one records in the United States. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Ivan Guimarães Lins (born June 16, 1945) is a Latin Grammy-winning Brazilian musician. He has been an active performer and songwriter of Brazilian popular music (MPB) and jazz for over 30 years. His first hit,“Madalena,” was recorded by Elis Regina in 1970. Beyond his own performance of his compositions, Simone is his most notable and respected interpreter. His 1989 hit song "Love Dance" is one of the most re-recorded songs in musical history.

Testifying to Lins's importance as a composer is the frequency with which tribute albums and new covers of his compositions appear. His jazz classics have been recorded by many notable international artists including Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, George Benson, the Manhattan Transfer, Diane Schuur, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, Eliane Elias, Patti Austin, Sting, Toots Thielemans, Take 6, Lee Ritenour, David Benoit, Carlos do Carmo, Mark Murphy, Dave Grusin, Sérgio Mendes, Michael Bublé, and countless others.

Ivan Lins was born in Rio de Janeiro. He spent several years in Boston, Massachusetts, while his father, a naval engineer, continued his graduate studies at M.I.T., studied at the Military College in Rio. He later received a degree in industrial chemical engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He considered a career in volleyball before discovering his considerable musical talent. Ivan Lins currently resides in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Tim Maia (Portuguese pronunciation: [tʃĩ majɐ]; September 28, 1942 – March 15, 1998), born Sebastião Rodrigues Maia in Rio de Janeiro, was a famous Brazilian musician known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and polemical (but always humorous) musical style. He was also known for his habit of lightheartedly missing appointments and even important gigs.

Maia performed in a variety of musical genres, ranging from happy and energetic dance music to sentimental songs such as his hit "Me Dê Motivo". He performed soul music, funk, bossa nova (in the 1990s), romantic songs, American pop, samba, baião, and Música Popular Brasileira. He frequently recorded albums and made tours alongside Banda Vitória Régia.

Maia wrote his earliest songs at age eight. At 14, as a drummer, he formed the group Os Tijucanos do Ritmo, which lasted one year. He then took guitar classes and was soon teaching children in the neighborhood of Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, including the Matoso gang (Maia, Jorge Ben, Erasmo Esteves, later Erasmo Carlos, and several others), named after the street where they used to hang out.

Elba Ramalho, (born on August 17, 1951 in Conceição, Paraíba) is a Brazilian songwriter, performer, poet and actress. She is sometimes called "The Queen of Forró".

In addition to her successful solo career, Elba has collaborated with a number of well-established Brazilian acts, including Alceu Valença and her first cousin Zé Ramalho.

Gal Costa (born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos on September 26, 1945, in Salvador, Bahia) is a Brazilian singer of popular music.

Gal Costa was born on September 26, 1945, in the city of Salvador, the state capital of the state of Bahia, Brazil. Her mother, Mariah Costa Penna (deceased 1993) spent hours listening to classical music during her pregnancy in hopes that Gal would be interested in music. Gal's father, Arnaldo Burgos (deceased 1960), died when Gal was 15 years old and the two would never meet.

At the age of 10, Gal befriended sisters, Sandra and Andréia Gadelha, the future spouses of singer-songwriters Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, respectively. At 14, she first listened to João Gilberto's "Chega de Saudade" on the radio and became interested in Bossa Nova. She then went on to work as a clerk on Salvador's main record store to get closer to music. At 18, she was introduced to Caetano Veloso by Andréa Gadelha, engaging with him in a deep friendship that still lasts.

Costa debuted her professional career on the night of August 22, 1964 on the concert Nós, por exemplo, where she performed alongside Veloso, Gil, Maria Bethânia and Tom Zé, among others. The concert inaugurated the Vila Velha Theatre in her hometown. During the same year, she also performed in Nova Bossa Velha, Velha Bossa Nova, at the same place and with the same singing partners. She then left Salvador to live in the house of her cousin Nívea in Rio de Janeiro, following the footsteps of Bethânia, whose concert, Opinião, had become a huge hit on the town.