Early life

Assumpção was black; a great-grandson of Angolan slaves and grew up listening to the drums of umbanda (a kind of voodoo tradition also based upon Christianism) in the backyard patio of his home.^{[citation needed]} It was later in his youth that Jimi Hendrix came to prominence and, being a self-taught acoustic guitar player, a young Assumpção fell in love with the rhythm section of the music of the now-legendary guitar virtuoso. Assumpção actually grew up in Arapongas, a municipality of the Brazilian state, Paraná, the area he moved to at the age of 12 after his birthplace of São Paulo. Embracing a passion for music from an early age, Assumpção reportedly left accounting school during the second term to perform drama at the theater and music concerts in the city of Londrina instead.^{[citation needed]}

Later years

In 1973, he returned to São Paulo to devote himself to music and was performing on the Lira Paulistana stage soon after his arrival in the city.

The Lira Paulistana theater, located in the Pinheiros district of São Paulo, was a central platform for participants in the "Vanguarda Paulistana" and Itamar Assumpção's name was a regular feature at the venue. Who didn't sing in the Lira, hasn't dreamt (Quem não cantou no Lira, não sonhou in Portuguese), explained J'Cor (Le Dantas Cordeiro), a poet from the scene.^{[citation needed]} The prominent figures of the movement - Assumpção, Barnabé, Grupo Rumo, Premê (Premeditando o Breque), Le Dantas Cordeiro and others - soon earned the nickname of "Damned", with the reason behind this title unclear at the present time (it may have had to do with the reduced financial potential of their musical output due to their position outside of the Brazilian music industry, an observation that gained substance when the movement eventually dismantled due, in part, to a lack of commercial success^[1]). For the popular media, the work of the "Vanguarda" artists was labeled as difficult and inaccessible.^{[citation needed]}

His first piece of recorded music was the 1980 independent album, Beleléu Leléu Eu and eight years following this release he was to record what would be his only ever record with a major music company, Intercontinental! Quem diria! Era só o que faltava... (Intercontinental! Who knew! It's just what was missing...).

Assumpção died of colorectal cancer in 2003. His daughters Anelis and Serena have both pursued musical careers.^[2]