Tiago was born in 1975, in Lisbon, and decided he wanted to pursue a career as a professional musician at the early age of 16. His academic studies led him to study piano at Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional for the next 4 years. He is known as a singer, songwriter, keyboard player, composer, producer and even had some experience as an actor. However, it is as a singer that his career has thrived as he conquered his place in the musical industry, with the versatility and range of his vocals.
From very early on Tiago felt a great pull towards prog rock and some of its most emblematic bands: Genesis, Pink Floyd and Marillion are still among his favourites, a testament to his love of melodic rock in detriment of extreme experimentalism. At their core, these are bands who stood out for creating songs, athough they freely expanded that format, adapting it to more or less complex narratives. Thus it’s little wonder that Tiago would be, at the age of 16, a founder of what would be his own emblem until he was 32: the band Forgotten Suns. With them he learned, experimented, made mistakes and got things right until he developed some musical maturity throughout three albums (when he was asked to leave, Tiago had already composed a large part of the band’s third album, though the end result of said album was dramatically different in the wake of his departure).
Two years before he left Forgotten Suns he took the challenge of his friend and stage mate, drummer and lyricist Ricardo Daniel, to write a song based on one of his (Ricardo’s) poems. Roughly 40 minutes later “Finge Só Que Sim” was born. During the subsequent five years another 8 songs came to life and, with them, the band Cambraia, where Tiago would sing, for the first time in his native Portuguese, his music and Ricardo Daniel’s poetry. Nowadays Cambraia are still the musical project that Tiago dedicates to his mother tongue and to the musical and cultural traditions of his country, Portugal.
Yet another project of songs in English, Portuguese and Italian relied on his criativity and dedication for a few years (2008-2013) and a few stages: Casual Attraction. In this band he explored collaborative work, splitting the writing of lyrics and music with a singer/songwriter that he greatly admires: Stella Sousa. It was also during the last stage of this band that he worked, for the first time in the context of original music, with his guitarist, bass player and longtime friend, Pedro Soares.
During all of those years he kept on writing songs that he felt didn’t fit in any of his projects and, in 2012, Tiago decided it was time to take the leap and own up to his musical identity as a solo artist. That’s when he decided to create a crowdfunding campaign through the ppl.pt platform, and he gathered enough funding to begin the production of Half Full, the album he’s just released. He wrote many more songs, right up to the very last moment of the final mixing (the song The Same Mistake Again almost didn’t make it in time to be included in the album) until he finally settled upon the 15 songs that make up the album.
Half Full is a record about love and heartbreak, different moods, war, financial crisis, religion, philosophy, politics, spirituality. All of these define Tiago Barbosa, who believes that an artist has both the right and the duty to search for knowledge, to be provoked and to provoke, to think and make others think on any subject, to be moved and to move others, to live and let live. His music has always been the medium he chose to embrace his quests, and he creates that music for people of all origins and identities. Those are the ones he aims to reach. Those are the ones he wants to be with, whether through earphones, car speakers or face to face on stage anywhere in the world.
On April 30th, 2019, Tiago summoned 100 people who were deeply intertwined with his life, both on a personal and a professional levels, to introduce his Half Full for the first time on stage, filling the small but magical Carlos Paredes auditorium in Lisbon. He was accompanied by four brilliant musicians: Pedro Soares on guitars, Nelson Caetano on drums, João Sanguinheira on bass guitars and Íris Sarai on keyboards. It was an intimate night, filled with memorable emotions. One of those moments that simply can’t be replicated, to store safely away in the happy memories box.
With his band, one month later, he faced the first test when playing to an audience of people from every continent. Now he’d find out whether or not his music was truly all-inclusive. From Lisbon to the world. In addition to that he’d be playing in his hometown, in his favourite venue (Aula Magna), opening for one of his favourite bands (Marillion). Those 40 minutes felt like 5. Everything went well. The audience reacted very well, and the feedback couldn’t have been better. It was a fact: Tiago Barbosa was an international artist, ready to conquer audiences in stages all over the world. Bring ’em on.