Skank is a Brazilian band from Belo Horizonte. Having begun in 1991, they sold approximately 5,200,000 copies of their albums as of 2004.[2] Initially intending to mix dancehall with traditional Brazilian styles, later the band changed its sonority to music closer to Britpop and local movement Clube da Esquina.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Skank (1992/1993) 1.2 Calango (1994) 1.3 O Samba Poconé (1996) 1.4 Siderado (1998) 1.5 Maquinarama (2000) 1.6 MTV ao vivo (2001) 1.7 Cosmotron (2003) 1.8 Radiola (2004) 1.9 Carrossel (2006) 1.10 Estandarte (2008) 1.11 Multishow ao Vivo (2010) 2 International career 3 Members 4 Discography 5 Awards 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Biography

In 1983, Samuel Rosa (guitars, vocals) and Henrique Portugal (keyboards) started to play in a reggae band called "Pouso Alto", along with Dinho Mourão (drums) and his brother Alexandre (bass). In 1991, Pouso Alto arranged for a performance in São Paulo, but due to the Mourão brothers not being in Belo Horizonte, bassist Lelo Zaneti and drummer Haroldo Ferretti were called for the gig.[3] The band premiered on June 5, 1991, and due to the performance competing with the Campeonato Paulista final match, the audience was 37 people.[4] After the show, the group changed its name to Skank, inspired by Bob Marley's song "Easy skanking", and began to perform regularly at "Mister Beef" churrascaria in Belo Horizonte.[5]

Skank (1992/1993) “ Imagine a bunch of white boys from BH playing reggae. Who would have bet on that? ” — Samuel Rosa on their beginnings, Revista da Web, October 1999