Brazilian country music (sertanejo) has lost one of its best-known voices. Singer Rick Sollo, of the duo Rick & Renner, died at 59 in a helicopter crash in the mountains of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. He was aboard the aircraft that went missing on Monday, September 21, in the Vacas Gordas area near Urubici.
How the crash happened
According to the Santa Catarina Fire Department, the helicopter took off from an area near Camboriú, on the state’s coast, bound for São Joaquim, and disappeared shortly before reaching its destination. The crash is estimated to have happened around 4 p.m. Rescue teams focused the search on the last location recorded by one of the passengers’ cell phones.
Bad weather hampered the operation: the region was hit by heavy rain and strong winds, with a hail warning in place. About 20 firefighters took part in the search, supported by 4×4 vehicles to reach the roughest terrain. The search continued through the night, and the aircraft was found around noon on Tuesday, September 22.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. The victims’ bodies were taken to Florianópolis for identification and forensic examination.
Who was on board
There were no survivors. Besides Rick, the aircraft carried businessman Bruno Avelar, videomaker Paulo Soares, pilot Antônio Roberto Nóbrega de Araújo and co-pilot Leopoldo Barros Teixeira.
Avelar worked in sales and was known for talks and mentoring programs across Brazil, with more than 570,000 Instagram followers. Paulo Soares, an audiovisual communication graduate from Uninove, lived in São Paulo and had worked as a camera operator, filmmaker and video editor since 2023.
Who Rick was
Geraldo Antônio de Carvalho, known as Rick, was born in December 1966 in Monte do Carmo, in the state of Tocantins. He began singing as a child in a duo with his sister Dalva. He met Renner by chance: on a trip to Brasília, he called a nightclub to borrow equipment and, while waiting on the line, heard Renner singing in the background.
The duo formed in 1986 and spent five years playing nightclubs before recording their first album, released in 1992. Their national breakthrough came in 1998 with “Ela é Demais”. Over 25 years on the road, they performed for an estimated audience of 225 million people. Their hits include “Nos Bares da Cidade”, “Estou Apaixonado”, “Filha” and “Nóis Tropica, Mas Não Cai”.
Their career had its ups and downs. In 2010, Rick went solo and released the album “Pronto pra Te Amar”, but rejoined the duo two years later. They split again in 2015, when Rick briefly sang with Giovani of the duo Gian & Giovani. The partnership with Renner resumed in 2018, and the two were still performing together, with shows scheduled.
Family and farewell
Rick had been with his wife, Geralda Helena, for more than 40 years. They formally married in 2015 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida, in a ceremony led by Father Fábio de Melo. He leaves two children and grandchildren.
On Wednesday, September 23, his widow and his daughter, Mônica Nascimento, announced that the wake will be closed to the public. The family thanked fans for their support and said that the farewell will be to Geraldo, the husband, father and grandfather, while Rick the artist will live on through his voice and his songs.
His death prompted an outpouring of tributes from fellow sertanejo artists and a surge in Google searches for his name and the duo, led by the state of Santa Catarina.
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