Tonico & Tinoco

[1] Born in rural São Paulo to Spanish father Salvador Pérez and Brazilian mother Maria do Carmo, João and José Perez's passion for music came from their maternal grandparents Olegario and Isabel, who played songs on an old accordion.

Tonico took up work in a quarry and cement factory while Tinoco turned to shining shoes and highway construction during Brazil's economic crisis and the onset of World War II.

Traveling back and forth between São Paulo's urban and rural areas helped the brothers to spread their music around the state, performing on the street, at festivals, entering contests and making appearances on many radio stations.

Another film followed in 1969—A Marca da Ferradura (The Mark of the Horseshoe) by Nelson Teixeira Mendes and the following year the duo recorded a tribute album to Raul Torres which was completed two months after the singer died.

Two less successful films—Llorente's Os Três Justiceiros (The Three Gunslingers) and Osvaldo de Oliveira's Luar do Sertão had the Perez brothers give up their acting career and focus solely on music.