Rick Batera

Brazilian samba singer and drummer. Died in 2021. In 1981, as a teenager, he began his career as a drummer at high school festivals at Grupo Pesquisa, a band specialized in samba-rock. As part of Grupo Pesquisa, he recorded the LP Samba Swing Balanço, performing with the group in various theaters and cultural spaces in the ABC region of São Paulo, such as Hipnoses 2000, Barbaréu and Bar Trem das Onze, among others. In 1985 he did a season in Japan, where he stayed for a year performing at various nightclubs. The following year, in 1986, he returned to Brazil and joined the Clave de Fá group, with which he spent time in several nightclubs in São Paulo, among them Moema Samba, Barracão de Zinco, Vila I, Farol da Barra, Bar From Cabeça Pra Baixo and Vila II, among others. In 1989 he participated in the "Pagode Festival of Rádio Manchete". As a drummer, he performed with several artists from the São Paulo samba and also with the Rio de Janeiro group Fundo de Quintal.