Gilberto Gil and Female Vocalists

Gilberto Gil's arrival into the mainstream owed a great deal to one of Brazil's greatest female vocalists, Elis Regina. She was very impressed with his songs and insisted on inviting him to appear on the TV show O Fino da Bossa, which she copresented with the singer-songwriter Jair Rodrigues.

She would return to Gil's songs countless times and, in 1973, she sang a duet with him at Phonogram's Phono 73 festival, which brought together many of the record label's artists. The pair sang Gil's song Ladeira da Preguiça.

Rita was a songwriter whose songs Gil would go on to record. For his 1969 self-titled album, he recorded a cover version of the song 2001 by Os Mutantes (photo), which Rita wrote with Tom Zé.

Their tributes to each other included Rita singing Giló in honor of Gil, and Gil announcing that he was going to "sing a song written by my very good friend," before performing her song Ovelha Negra.

Tapes of the pair's performance came to light in 1998, showing Gil and Gal playing the guitar and singing with a band. The recording is now available as a CD and LP.

Excerpt from the song Bahia de Todas as Contas, written by Gilberto Gil and recorded by Gal Costa on her 1972 album Baby Gal.

Still in the 1960s, the pair joined Caetano, Gal, and Tom Zé in Augusto Boal's show Arena Canta Bahia, staged at São Paulo's Teatro Oficina (Theater Workshop). In the 1970s, Bethânia performed in Gil's shows several times, including this one on his European Refavela album tour.

In 1981, Gil, Bethânia, and Caetano recorded the album Brasil with the bossa nova legend João Gilberto. Gil took leave from the Ministry of Culture in 2003 to travel to Europe to perform with Maria Bethânia. 

They appeared together on stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and their performance was made into a duet album.

Their affection for him is such that Ivete Sangalo even calls Gil Pai, meaning Dad in Portuguese. In 1999, Gil performed alongside Sangalo in front of 90,000 people in Peace Square (Praça da Paz) in São Paulo's Ibirapuera Park.

In 2012, they released an album with Caetano Veloso, titled Especial: Ivete, Gil, and Caetano.

With support from Gil, Margareth Menezes has also done several collaborations with her Paizão (Big Daddy), as she used to call him. 

 Gil suggested that she should be the one to take his place on stage at the Hollywood Rock festival in 1990, when the death of his son Pedro forced him to cancel his appearance.

Whether at the Culture Cup (Copa da Cultura) in 2006, with the Salvador Carnival street bands (blocos), or on Margareth's albums, Gil was never far away—always on hand with songs for this superb Bahian singer to record.

A card from Daniela Mercury thanking Gil for their partnership: "Gil, I am thrilled with your beautiful song being in my album. I hope you like the arrangement. Thank you so much for your beauty."

Before she died, the singer Cássia Eller had the chance to perform with her muse on the track Fiz O Que Pude. The song was written by Nando Reis but Eller included an excerpt from Gil's song Chororô, which he sang himself.

In this photo, Gil shares the microphone with Elba Ramalho, a singer from Paraíba State who emerged in the 1970s. She always professed to be a fan of the Bahian singer-songwriter and worked with her idol several times throughout her career, both on stage and in the studio.