Widely known as one of the most respected and sought-after producer, arranger, composer, performer in the music world, Deodato was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from Italian and Portuguese origin. A distant relative of Enrico Caruso, Deodato got started by playing the accordion at age 12. Shortly after, he started studying piano as well as orchestration, arranging and conducting, by himself, through books and observation and spending many evenings sitting behind orchestras and watching how they played. His first break came at age 17, when he arranged and conducted his first recording session for a 28-piece orchestra. Soon after, Deodato became one of the most respected arrangers and pianists in Rio`s busy music scene during the bossa-nova era. At his parents` request, he continued his college studies for 3 more years, but eventually dedicated himself exclusively to music by playing and recording for such artists as Milton Nascimento, `Marcos Valle`, Elis Regina and Antonio Carlos Jobim. In 1967, Deodato moved to New York invited by Luiz Bonfá, the legendary composer of "Black Orpheus" (`Morning Of Carnival`). Besides arranging many of Bonfá`s records, Deodato also did extensive studio work for `Astrid Gilberto`, Walter Wanderley, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Marcos Valle, and many other Brazilian artists who were living in New York at that time. Shortly after that, he started working with Jazz artists such as Wes Montgomery, Ray Bryant and Stanley Turrentine. Later on, he achieved a strong reputation in the fields of pop and black music, arranging for Frank Sinatra ("Sinatra & Co."), Roberta Flack ("Killing Me Softly", "Chapter Two", "Quiet Fire"), Aretha Franklin ("Let Me In Your Life") and many others. Deodato has also worked on several movie scores, though this has never been his main occupation. Among them: The Onion Field (1979), Hei zhen zhu (1970), The Gentle Rain (1966) and Target Risk (1975) (TV). He then exploded into the music scene as a leader, with his phenomenally successful version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra", mostly known as "2001: A Space Odyssey", taken from his acclaimed - and now legendary - solo debut album in the USA, "Prelude". The "2001" single became a mega hit, reaching the top pop charts in the USA as well as in many other countries, with sales of over 5 million copies at that time. Deodato received many awards from Billboard, Cashbox, Record World and Payboy magazines, culminating with a Grammy for best Pop/Rock Instrumental Performance and a nomination for Best Pop Artist of that year. After performing at the Hollywood Bowl with the CTI All-Stars Band, in 1972, due to a lot of requests, Deodato formed his own group. His debut appearance as a leader, billed as "2001 Space Concert", was at the Madison Square Garden, in New York 1973. After 7 years of world wide touring (including Australia, Japan, China, South America, Europe) and 8 coast to coast tours of the US, Deodato decided to concentrate on studio work once again, and get to work as a producer as well. Besides highly successful solo albums for the CTI, MCA, Warner And Atlantic labels, his work as a producer/arranger earned him several more laurels. One of his first productions was Kool and The Gang`s "Celebration" (number 1 pop single), which projected him as one of the world`s top producers. Since then he has applied his Midas touch in best selling albums for such acts as Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Franks, Gwen Guthrie, Chuck Mangione, Breakfast Club, The