Pery Ribeiro (born Peri de Oliveira Martins, October 27, 1937 in Rio de Janeiro), was the son of composer Herivelto Martins and of the singer Dalva de Oliveira. Ribeiro is a bossa nova singer who is credited with having launched "Garota de Ipanema."

Ribeiro started his artistic career by providing singing and voices in Walt Disney animated movies. In 1944, he acted in the film Berlim na Batucada, by Luís de Barros. His debut on radio was in 1959, on Rádio Nacional, where he took his stage name Pery Ribeiro on suggestion of his godfather César de Alencar. In 1960, Ribeiro had his first song, "Não Devo Insistir" (written with Dora Lopes), recorded by Dalva de Oliveira. Ribeiro recorded his first single in the same year. In 1961, he recorded the bossa nova classics "Manhã de Carnaval" and "Samba de Orfeu" (both by Luís Bonfá and Antônio Maria) and "Barquinho" (Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Bôscoli), among others.

The first LP came in 1962, Pery Ribeiro e Seu Mundo de Canções Românticas, backed by Luís Bonfá on the guitar. In the next year, "Pery é Todo Bossa" had an enormous success with the first recording of "Garota de Ipanema" (by Tom Jobim and Vinícius de Moraes), along with other bossa nova classics like "Me Lembro Vagamente," "Nós e o Mar," "Ah! Se eu Pudesse," and "Rio" (all by Roberto Menescal and Ronaldo Bôscoli) and originals.

In 1965, he formed the group "Gemini V" with Leny Andrade and the bossa nova trio Bossa 3. They gave performances at the Porão 73 club and at the Princesa Isabel theater ("Rio"). Also made a live recording. In 1966, Ribeiro went to the U.S. where he joined the Bossa Rio (Sérgio Mendes, Gracinha Leporace, Osmar Milito, Manfredo Fest, Otávio Bailly, and Ronnie Mesquita), performing in several American cities.

Pery Ribeiro passed away on February 24, 2012.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.