Dick Farney

Farnésio Dutra e Silva (14 November 1921 – 4 August 1987), better known as Dick Farney, was a Brazilian jazz pianist, composer, and singer who was popular in Brazil from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s and 1980s. Biography He began playing piano as a child, as his father Eduardo Dutra taught him classical music and his mother taught him how to sing. In 1937, he debuted as a singer on the show Hora Juvenil of Radio Cruzeiro do Sul in Rio de Janeiro, performing the song “Deep Purple” composed by Peter DeRose. Farney was invited by César Ladeira to Radio Mayrink Veiga to host the program Dick Farney, the Voice and Piano. He then formed the group Os Swing Maniacos with his brother Cyll Farney on drums. The band accompanied Edu da Gaita for the recording of “Indian Song” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. From 1941 to 1944, Farney sang with the orchestra of Carlos Machado at the Casino da Urca when gambling was still allowed in Brazil. In 1946, he was invited to the United States after meeting the arranger Bill Hitchcock and pianist Eddy Duchin at the Copacabana Palace Hotel. In November 1947, Farney had a Billboard chart hit with the song “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So”, which reached number 13