Charles Gavin

Biography

At age 8, his friends invited him to participate on the September 7 (Brazil's Independence Day) festival. The problem was the absence of decent percussion instruments. So, the school decided to improvise these with kitchen utensils. But there was still an instrument remaining, which would be quite difficult for a not so skillful drummer to play. Gavin, who was already used to beat the table at school, was chosen for the job. The band, commanded by Gavin, won the originality prize.

In 1975, at the year of 15, living in Jabaquara, Gavin joined ten neighbors, and during the weeks that preceded the Carnaval, they promoted noisy beats around the streets. However, his ears were focused on the discs of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Once the drumming life was chosen, he built himself his first own drum kit, using pieces of his father's Opala, his sofa, and two ash trays.

In 1979, when he was 19, Gavin convinced his father to buy his first true drum kit, a white Pinguim. The condition to keep the instrument was not to quit the university, though. In 1982, Gavin entered administration in the Ponthifical Catholic University of São Paulo, while working at Panasonic, operating huge computers.

During his studies at PUC, he entered the band Zero Hora, and later the bands Santa Gang, Zona Franca and Os Jetsons, the latter together with Branco Mello and Ciro Pessoa, members of Titãs, the band in which he would enter in 1985. Also with Ciro, he performed with Cabine C, but with Ira! he made more shows, and caught Titãs attention. In December 1984, when he had already switched Ira! for RPM (he made it to release a two-track single with the group but left before the release of their first album), he was called to perform with Titãs. Coincidentally, André Jung, who left Titãs, would replace Gavin's place at Ira!. Gavin left his triple life and dedicated himself only to music. In 1985, he made his debut with the band and entered in the studio to record their second album, Televisão.

One of his main activities is to collect rare LPs. Gavin transformed this hobby in a second activity, Titãs being the first one. He re-released discs from artists like Tom Zé, Lady Zu and Novos Baianos, beyond organizing compilations for labels. Since the end of the 1980s, he has been also producing. His first production work was the album "Vítimas do Sistema", from the Brazilian band Detrito Federal, in 1988.

In 2007, he released his first book, called 300 Discos Importantes da Música Brasileira (300 Important Albums of the Brazilian Music).

Married to the dancer Mariana Roquette-Pinto (who was once kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro and, after four days, rescued by the local police, in a period both were still only dating each other), Gavin had two daughters with her: Dora, born in 2003, and Sofia, born in September 2005.

with Ira!

with RPM

As a producer

Som Livre Masters series

Record label Som Livre commissioned Gavin to select 25 rare albums for inclusion in their Som Livre Masters Series of CD reissues.

The albums:

1. Sambas - Don Junior, Walter Wanderley, Milton Banana
2. Bossa nova, nova bossa - Manfredo Fest
3. Bossa Jazz Trio - Bossa Jazz Trio
4. Sansa Trio - Sansa Trio
5. Os Brazões - Os Brazões
6. Em Som Maior - Sambrasa Trio
7. Sambossa 5
8. Quarteto Bossamba - Walter Wanderley
9. Reencontro com Sambalanço Trio - Sambalanço Trio
10. Som 3 - Cesar Camargo Mariano
11. Os Sambistas - Paulinho da Viola
12. Decisão - Zimbo Trio
13. Brazilian Octopus - Hermeto Pascoal
14. Com Dizia O Poeta - Vinicius de Moraes, Marília Medalha, Toquinho
15. E deixa o relógio andar - Osmar Milito
16. Rosinha de Valença - Rosinha de Valença
17. Molhado de Suor - Alceu Valença
18. Vila Sésamo
19. Vamos pro Mundo - Novos Baianos
20. Gerson Conrad e Zezé Motta
21. Sítio do Picapau Amarelo
22. Tim Maia - Tim Maia
23. Vontade De Rever Você - Marcos Valle
24. Nave Maria - Tom Zé
25. Línguas de Fogo - Sidney Miller