Jota Quest is a Brazilian pop rock band. The band was founded in 1995, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais as J. Quest, but due to trademark issues with Hanna-Barbera, they renamed themselves Jota Quest (jota being the Portuguese name for the letter j). The band members include: Rogério Flausino (vocals), Marco Túlio (guitar), Márcio Buzelin (keyboards), "PJ" - Paulo Roberto Diniz, Jr. (bass) and Paulinho Fonseca (drums). Jota Quest initially stood apart from Minas Gerais' musical tradition by garnering national success with pop rock and blue eyed soul-tinged pop. Eventually the band exposed its Clube da Esquina influences, including collaborations with Minas Gerais exponents Paulinho Pedra Azul and Milton Nascimento in Oxigenio as well as jams with 14 Bis and a collaboration with Roberto Carlos over his hit single "Alem do Horizonte". Jota Quest sold over 4,000,000 copies in Brazil, Latin America and Portugal.[citation needed]Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 J.Quest 1.2 De Volta ao Planeta 1.3 Oxigênio 1.4 Discotecagem Pop Variada / MTV ao Vivo 1.5 Até Onde Vai 1.6 2007 2 Members 3 Discography 3.1 Demos 3.2 Albums 3.3 Live 3.4 Compilations 4 Hits 5 See also 6 References 7 External links
J.Quest
The band's first record, J. Quest, drew on the disco sound. The bar band's most successful song is their rendition of "As Dores do Mundo" ("Pains of the World"), a huge hit by Bahian soulman Hyldon in the '70s. It quickly entered the charts, followed by other singles, while the band toured Brazil. On this first tour, the band members came on stage wearing "black power" wigs. Another hit from their first album was "Encontrar Alguém" ("To Meet Someone"), a very disco-influenced song with a bass groove.
De Volta ao Planeta
The band's second release was De Volta ao Planeta ("Back to the Planet"), more conventionally poprock, spawning more hit singles, especially the signature song "Fácil" ("Easy" - no relation to the Commodores song). The album's title song was "De Volta ao Planeta" (the "Planet", in this case referring to Planet of the Apes) with monkey noises backgrounding its chorus. The album became a Brazilian best-seller. This tour was marked for the first Brazilian Solar Energy supplied live show, a project with Greenpeace. In 2009, the title track of the album was used in the hugely successful telenovela Caras e Bocas, resulting in the song receiving moderate airplay on Brazilan radio and a short stay on the national charts.
Oxigênio
A relative commercial failure, due to the band's previous sales figures, their association with an Internet provider (which bankrupted) as well as advertising for Fanta. The band tried a new direction on its third record, an ecological oriented and experimental release called Oxigênio ("Oxygen"). It moved away from the dance floor, with increased production values, experimental songwriting and sponsored by the greatest Coca Cola marketing campaign in Latin America. The Brazilian GRAMMY winner singer Milton Nascimento recorded with the band on this album the song "Destes Tantos Modos". Although the album went Platinum it is largely considered a hodgepodge.
Discotecagem Pop Variada / MTV ao Vivo
In 2002, they returned to their original formula with bass guitar grooves, funk rock guitar riffs and beautiful lyrics with Discotecagem Pop Variada ("Eclectic Pop Disco"), their fourth album. Jota Quest recaped the bar band feeling with hits like "Na Moral" (In The Groove) and the ballad "Só Hoje" (Only Today). This album was quickly followed by MTV Ao Vivo, a CD/DVD capturing one of the band's powerful, energized performances in a free concert for 80,000 people at Praça do Papa, in their hometown city of Belo Horizonte. The mega Brazilian hit "Do seu Lado" composed by Brazlian singer Nando Reis was extracted from this album. MTV Ao Vivo - Jota Quest sold in excess of 1,000,000 copies in Brazil, Portugal and Latin America. The live DVD sold 240,000 copies.
Até Onde Vai
The band's fifth studio album, Até Onde Vai ("How Far It Goes"), was released in 2005. The album fused rock and funk elements and contained their cover version of Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos's "Além do Horizonte" ("Beyond the Horizon") which became a major hit. The album produced a further string of hit singles, all receiving heavy rotation on Brazilian radio stations, including: "O Sol" ("The Sun"), "Palavras De Um Futuro Bom" at the tail-end of 2006, and most recently "Já Foi" in the first half of 2007. This album was a 7th Annual Latin GRAMMY nominated.
Lead singer Rogerio Flausino was also invited to sing in English on electronic dance act Layo and Bushwacka's 2006 album.
2007
The band members are mixing the new live DVD, recorded in Porto Alegre (Brazilian city- Rio Grande do Sul state capital). The dvd will be released at the end of the year.
On 7 July 2007, they performed at the Brazilian leg of Live Earth from Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Rogerio Flausino - vocals Paulo Roberto Diniz, Jr. (PJ) - bass Marcio Buzelin - keyboard Paulinho Fonseca - drums Marco Tulio - Guitar
Demos 1995 - Independente
Albums 1996 - J. Quest - 200.000 (Gold) 1998 - De Volta ao Planeta - 800.000 (3x Platinum) 2000 - Oxigênio - 400.000 (2x Platinum) 2001 - Discotecagem Pop Variada - 500.000 (2x Platinum) 2005 - Até Onde Vai - 150.000 (Platinum) 2008 - La Plata - 40.000
Live 2003 - MTV ao Vivo - 800.000 (Disco de Platina-Triplo) 2005 - Rio de Janeiro, 28 January 2005 (limited) - 100.000 (Gold) 2009 - Festival de Verão Salvador
Compilations 2004 O Melhor de Jota Quest
"As Dores do Mundo" from J. Quest "Encontrar Alguem" from J. Quest "Onibusfobia" from J. Quest "Facil" from De Volta ao Planeta "Sempre Assim" from De Volta ao Planeta "O Vento" from De Volta ao Planeta "Oxigenio" from Oxigenio "Dias Melhores" from Oxigenio "O que Eu Tambem nao Entendo" from Oxigenio "Na Moral" from Discotecagem Pop Variada "So Hoje" from Discotecagem Pop Variada "Mais Uma Vez" from Discotecagem Pop Variada "Amor Maior" from MTV ao Vivo "Do seu Lado" from MTV ao Vivo "Alem do Horizonte" from Ate Onde Vai "O Sol" from Ate Onde Vai "Palavras de Um Futuro Bom" from Ate Onde Vai
