It seems like a long time ago that Lili Rocha, who has always held a great passion for music, sang in the streets and squares of her town, Porto Seguro in the state of Bahia in Brazil, and won the famous "Gabriela" contest in Ilheus, which gave her the opportunity to travel to Europe, first to Portugal and then to Italy and Switzerland where she appeared in music shows. This marked the starting point of her career as a professional singer. Lili is particularly fond of the time she spent in Zurich studying at the Accademia di Musica Italiana, where she worked closely with maestro Antonio Guglielmi with whom she also recorded her first songs.
Equally important for her career was her introduction to Matthias Oertle, who became her producer. Immediately, there was between them a common understanding and concept to create and interpret music. Their close cooperation led to the production of three studio albums and one live album since 2003: The first album was “Me Deixa Sonhar” (Let Me Dream), which contained eight songs of which four in Portuguese and four in Italian. The album was published in 2003 in Italy and Brazil and more than 80’000 records were sold.
The second album in 2004 was called “Recomeçar” (Starting Over), an album which was created and recorded between Milan and Rio de Janeiro: Twelve new songs composed by Lili Rocha and Matthias Oertle, nine of which in Portuguese and three in Italian. This album, too, went golden in Italy (40’000 copies sold).
Published in June 2007, “Amuleto” was the third studio album (RTR/Warner). In preparation of the release of this latest studio album two singles were released in Italy: “Arrisca”, which was in the top 100 downloads in Italy for 2006 (Nielson Media), and “Yemanjá”, which is a song dedicated to a saint of African origin that is widely revered in Bahia, in particular by artists. “Amuleto” was the third song that was released as a separate single from that album.
In October 2007, Lili Rocha embarked on her "Amuleto" concert tour which took her to all major cities in northern Italy where she performed more than 80 concerts in music venues and live clubs. The Amuleto Tour led to the production of Lili’s first live album “Lili Rocha Live”. This live album was released in May 2009 both as a CD (audio) and a DVD (video). The one hour live concert contains 14 songs that have been arranged and performed to create a version that is different from the one recorded on the studio albums.
In the fall of 2008, Lili made her debut in Spain with a number of live concerts: The Spanish version of her single hit “Arriesga” was released in Spain. That single was followed-up by a second single in Spanish, “Querré”. Her new album “Lili Rocha Live” contains four songs performed in Spanish.
Lili Rocha presently lives in the United States where she works on her new project.