Article published in the "Correio da Manha" of June 15th, 2008.

Art Sullivan discovers a Portuguese voice

Hugo was discovered by Art Sullivan, star of the 70s who bet everything so that the young man goes on the road of the success. He sang in his bedroom, so that nobody hears him, but he filmed and sent his videos on internet.

The April 1st 2008, Hugo did not believe the eyes when he lit his computer, after his alarm clock, in the reading of a surprising message which managed him on the blog which it held on internet. He read and read again the message, hesitating between the envy and the fear of believing what he read.
"Art Sullivan saw your videos on the web and was moved by your voice" said a message signed by the brother of the singer who has had one of the biggest musical success in them of 70, at the foot of the message, a telephone number and an address to get in touch.

Nobody suspected the passion which he fed for the music, between 4 walls of his bedroom, even his parents were far from suspecting this passion which had their son. Having concluded his 9th year of school, he began to help them in the family tearoom to Barcelos. It was the closed door, in the black, so that nobody hears him, so that Hugo recorded when he sang in his bedroom, videos which he posted then on Dailymotion.
"I was ashamed to say it to my family, it was my secret, I was always very shy. If Art Sullivan had not contacted me, I would continue to sing but that nobody knows him". He had a break which characterizes him and which does not let doubt its shyness, in Portuguese which it began to learn only when his family settled down in Portugal.

In secret, he would have continued to sing, hidden because of his shyness, if a fan of Art Sullivan had not fallen by chance on a video where he sang "Petite demoiselle", this one sent an e-mail on the official site of Art Sullivan. It is so, pushed by the circumstances that Hugo tries his luck. Art Sullivan quickly made the decision to contact Hugo "I delayed 24 hours" confess the singer of "Petite demoiselle" already that Hugo to delay the double of time to return the call for which the message on internet asked.

"Nobody knew, 3 days having read the message, for the telephone number, the message and what Art Sullivan wanted to make me record. Then, 2 plane tickets arrived home, by post, to go in Belgium, I was afraid whether it is a joke, I did not believe in the invitation " remembers itself.

When he saw him sung on internet, Art Sullivan feels that it is in front of a real artist and not a character. He is able to touch the others because when he sings we manage to see his color, its soul and it is really exceptional, enthusiastic the Belgian singer admits that he sees again itself in Hugo's story and that that helped him to make its decision. "He sang in his bedroom, me I sang only in the cellar, the difference it is that now it have internet and in my time not, but the story is the same, we are alike a lot to pass on feelings. We do not sing to prove that we have some voice but because inside us, he has feelings, emotions. " The complicity between 2 is evident, Art Sullivan, is proud of the voice that he discovered and that he considers as "charmer".

"When Art asked me why I was in the music, what I wanted in the future and what he felt when I sang " reveal a shy Hugo, supposing that he was surprised by the "simplicity" of the singer which for the first time in 35 years of career, bet and support a young unknown singer.

A large-scale promotion drive is launched, he envisages Portugal, France and Belgium but promises to go farther. For Art Sullivan, this bet in Hugo with whom he is going to record an album in the entrance of the winter, the important is that Hugo is recognized and to make a success in of him launched on the musical market.

The producer of Art Sullivan, Jack Velt, relied on the Belgian for songs of love and pain, Hugo agreed to take up the challenge. And nobody in the team doubts that the fans whom Art conquered in the 70's are also admirers of the young person Hugo.

Enthusiast and "touched" when he received plane tickets to go to see Art Sullivan in Belgium, but also "nervous", he spent the next nights without sleeping, the fear had nothing to do with the fact of meeting Art but the fear of the means of transportation which would bring him to Art. "I have the panic fear to take the plane" when he arrived after more than 24 hours of bus and train, plane tickets, the only one was used by the father of Hugo who accompanies him abroad. These words still reveal the boy that it is still inside him, he wants to sing "the love" but also the "world which is in danger ".

"During 3 or 4 minutes when I sing, I am afraid of nothing." By means of Art Sullivan, he is going to know the scene briefly and the world waits for him.

In spite of his 57 years, it is possible to find resemblances with the young man, who in the 70's made the girls sigh and the women with his ballads. Between 1972 and 1978, the Belgian singer sold about ten million disks and published albums in France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Latin America. "Ensemble", "Petite fille aux yeux bleus", "Donnes, donnes-moi", "Petite demoiselle" are songs the most hummed by Art Sullivan which went away for a long time from the scene - in the silence, it had dedicated itself to the composition and to the audiovisual production.

In 2006, he returned to record "Tout est dans tout", an album of originals which broke this long silence. He is betting for the first time in the career of a young foreigner "he is Portuguese, but he would have been Ukrainian or Polynesian, that would have been similar for me, he has a big talent, he is an artist in the depths of his soul " makes the eulogy the godfather of the young man, having seen and heard him on the net, in his videos Hugo sings a song of Art Sullivan and also Brel.