Carlos Lyra is a Brazilian singer and composer of numerous bossa nova and Música popular brasileira classics. He was born on May 11, 1939. He and Antonio Carlos Jobim, were the first two music composers, together with lyricists Vinicius de Moraes and Ronaldo Boscoli, to be recorded by João Gilberto on his first LP entitled Chega de Saudade (1959), which was called the first generation of Bossa Nova.

His first song to be recorded was "Menina" (1954), issued as a single by Sylvia Telles in 1955, with "Foi a noite" by Antonio Carlos Jobim on the other side of the record. The writers first met because of this single, when Jobim called Lyra "the other side of the record". At that time, both were writing their own music & lyrics creating a colloquial and completely new style. They wrote about their own experiences and feelings. A completely different lyrical style from most songs written that time.