Lena d'Água

Biography

Lena d'Água was born in Lisbon. In 1973, she enrolled briefly in Sociology but, as the 25 April 1974 Carnation Revolution came to fruition, she left university and joined a theatre group, later majoring in Education.

In 1975 d'Água married Ramiro Martins, the bass player of The Beatnicks. The couple had a daughter and, in May of the following year, she joined the band as lead singer, divorcing and leaving the project in 1978. Being the first woman in the country to lead a pop rock band, she became a sex symbol and a pop star; after singing with the Beatnicks and Salada de Frutas she pursued a solo career with her band Atlântida, whose first three solo albums were produced by England's Robin Geoffrey Cable.

Lena d'Água was a heroin addict for about nine years, but nevertheless she never left music and became clean in 1998. She sang Billie Holiday and Elis Regina with Portuguese jazz musicians, whom with she would later record a live album singing Portuguese classics from the 70's and 80's at the Hot Clube in 2005. Her latest album, Carrossel, was recorded in 2013, with a rock and roll power trio called Rock and Roll Station with whom she recovered her pop-rock hits from the 80s.

Personal life

D'Água is the daughter of S.L. Benfica star José Águas, who played for the club in the 1950s and 1960s. Her younger brother, Rui, represented it three decades later, and both appeared for the Portuguese national team.

In 2011 d'Água wrote a book about her father, titled «José Águas, o meu pai herói» («José Águas, my hero father»).

Discography