singer, composer, poet, writer, teacher and presenter
Instrument
Voice
Years active
1997 – present
Labels
Sony Music
Som Livre Canção Nova Paulinas LGK Music
Fábio José de Melo Silva, better known as Padre (Father) Fábio de Melo (April 3, 1971), is a Catholic priest, artist, writer, university professor and presenter. He belongs to the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He acts in the Diocese of Taubaté, in the interior of the State of São Paulo. As a singer, he has recorded eight albums for the Paulinas-COMEP Catholic record label, one for the record company Canção Nova, an independent project. His first record for a secular record company, Vida, was released by LGK Music and by Som Livre, with whom he continues to record, having already released two more albums by the end of 2009. As a university professor, he taught theology at the Dehonian College of Taubaté. Nowadays, he presents the program Spiritual Direction, transmitted by TV Canção Nova.
Biography
Father Fábio José de Melo Silva was born in the city of Formiga, Minas Gerais, on April 3, 1971. A master in theological anthropology, he was ordained in 2001 and works in the diocese of Taubaté, in the interior of São Paulo. He is the youngest of the eight children of the mason Dorinato Bias Silva and the housewife Ana Maria de Melo Silva.
The priesthood
After 18 years of formation and studies in seminaries, with a final phase being frater in the seminary of St. Jude Tadeu of Terra Boa – Pr, on December 15, 2001, in his hometown, in the Mother Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, Fábio de Melo was ordained a priest by the consecratory prayer of the Church and by the imposition of the hands of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Palmas, Tocantins, Bishop Alberto Taveira Corrêa.
Father Mauricio Leão had a great influence on his life as a seminarian, leading him to the Lavras seminary. In his priestly life, he has as reference the priests Zezinho, Joãozinho, and Léo Tarcísio. He has also confessed of the influence of the Reverend Caio Fábio.
Father Fábio de Melo graduated from the Abílio Machado State School in Formiga (MG) and the second grade at the Nossa Senhora de Lourdes School in Lavras (MG). He holds a degree in theology from the Dehonian College of Taubaté, with a diploma from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and Philosophy at the Brusque Educational Foundation in Santa Catarina.
He received a post-graduate education in Rio de Janeiro and a master's degree in Belo Horizonte, together with the Jesuits, at Instituto Santo Inácio – ISI (FAJE: Faculdade Jesuíta de Filosofia e Teologia).
Fábio de Melo then returned to Taubaté to teach in the area of Fundamental and Systematic Theology, in the same college where he had graduated.
Music career
Fábio at a concert in 2011.
With reference to Father Zezinho, SCJ, precursor of the singer priests since the 1960s, Father Fábio de Melo released his first CD, in 1997, entitled De Deus um cantador. Following this, he released Saudades do Céu, with the participation of several Catholic artists, bringing together the singers of his congregation. Included in this CD was the song Sing Heart, a tribute to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Upon receiving diaconal ordination, he composed Seasons of Life, which would become the opening music of his live performances, especially after the release of the DVD Eu e o Tempo. Already an ordained priest, he brought to market his newest work in 2003, Marcas do Eterno.
In 2004, the album Tom de Minas was released, an independent project that honors names and places of his home state Minas Gerais, with the participation of popular singer and songwriter Paulinho Pedra Azul from a show in the capital, Belo Horizonte, under the name "Minas e Outros Tons".[1]
The CD Humano Demais released in 2005 represented a return to his original themes, containing songs of his own and of other composers of catholic music.
In 2006, celebrating his 10 years of acting in Catholic music, several well-known songs known as "sertanjeas" were included in his 2006 release, in homage to his origins and his father, who also sang and played Viola.
The 2007 CD, Son of Heaven, first out of the Paulines and now for the New Song, tells of personal experiences and of those who have left, such as Father Léo Tarcísio, his trainer in seminary, and his great friend and singer-songwriter Robson Jr., of Cantores de Deus. Both were victims of cancer. Released the same year, the CD My Simple People retakes the idea already tried in "Zé Da Silva", with sertanejas, presenting those songs that were not originally recorded.
In 2008, Fábio de Melo released his first CD for the record company Som Livre – Vida – a work that made him known nationally, through the various participation in programs on open TV. Continuing his work of evangelism through the media, in 2009 he launched the CDs Iluminar and Eu e o Tempo. In 2014, he recorded Amar Como Jesus Amou, in a duet with singer Fernanda Takai, on her album Na Medida do Impossível.
