After her defiant femininity outraged many in Brazil, she lived through a military dictatorship and was boycotted for years. But after more than 30 albums, she explains how she kept going<\/p>\n
At 78, Joyce Moreno is one of Brazil\u2019s musical icons, but for decades that status seemed far from assured: this headstrong singer, guitarist and composer was frequently viewed as a threat by her country\u2019s establishment. Aged 19, the reaction to her song Me Disseram \u2013 which began \u201cI was told my man didn\u2019t love me\u201d \u2013 almost torpedoed her career before it even started. \u201cI\u2019d often heard the expression \u2018my man\u2019 sung by Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf, so for me it was normal,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I was a beach girl from Ipanema, writing and singing in the first person. People were shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, inspired by trailblazing actor Leila Diniz (\u201cher liberal attitudes lost her jobs\u201d), Moreno refused requests that she \u201cdress like a sexy bimbo\u201d, and endured male critics who thought her music \u201ctoo good to have been written by a woman\u201d. When, in 1980, she discovered that her label had given another female singer the blueprints for songs she had written, she \u201clooked for a lawyer, of course\u201d and successfully sued; in her memoir she claims she was then boycotted by Brazil\u2019s major record companies for a decade.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/2076eb708fd623f330aa86fd17a4ff0ea693c4ab\/0_423_3344_2675\/master\/3344.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=83052a46d1d91b88217655c66415e5db\" "\\"\u2018Today\u2019s")
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