Cássia Rejane Eller (Portuguese: /ˈkasjɐ ʁeˈʒɐni ˈɛleʁ/) (December 10, 1962 – December 29, 2001) was a Brazilian singer and musician. She came to prominence in the early 1990s and performed a mix of rock and MPB. Eller released five studio albums in her lifetime: Cássia Eller (1990), O Marginal (1992), Cássia Eller (1994), Veneno AntiMonotonia (1997) and Com Você... Meu Mundo Ficaria Completo (1999). Her sixth studio album, Dez de Dezembro (2002) was released posthumously. Eller's most successful album was Acústico MTV – Cássia Eller (2001), selling over 1 million copies. She was ranked as the 18th greatest vocalist and 40th greatest Brazilian musician by Rolling Stone Brasil. On December 29, 2001, Eller died of a heart attack caused by a malformation of her heart at the age of 39. Biography Early life and career Daughter of an Army paratrooper sergeant and a housewife, her name was suggested by her grandmother, who was devoted to St. Rita of Cascia. Born in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, she moved with her family to Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais at six years old. When she was 10 years old, she went to Santarém, Pará, and at age 12 returned to Rio. Her interest in music began when she received a guitar as a gift at age 14. She played mostly Beatles songs. At the age of 18, she arrived in Brasília, where her family moved. There she sang in choir, auditioned for musicals, worked in two operas as a showgirl, and performed as a singer for a forró group. She was also part of the first electric trio of Brasília, called Massa Real, and played the Surdo drum in a samba group. She played and sang in several bars (including Bom Demais). In 1981, she appeared in a spectacle of Oswaldo Montenegro. A year later, at age 19, wanting her personal freedom, she moved to Belo Horizonte for a place to live and a job. As soon as she arrived, she went to work as a bricklayer. "I made mortar and set up bricks," she said. There she lived in a small rented room. She did not finish high school because the shows she was doing every day on a different shift did not allow her a schedule to study. Characterized by deep voice and her eclectic choices of material, she played songs of great composers of Brazilian rock such as Cazuza, Renato Russo