Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return to Forever with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with numerous critically acclaimed artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Evans, Opa, Stan Getz, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Santana, Jaco Pastorius, and her husband Airto Moreira. 　　In 2002, Purim was the recipient of one of Brazil's highest awards, the 2002 Ordem do Rio Branco for Lifetime Achievement. She has been called "The Queen of Brazilian Jazz". 　　Purim was born in Rio de Janeiro to Jewish parents who were both classical musicians: her father Naum Purim played violin and her mother Rachel Vaisberg was a pianist. Flora discovered American jazz when her mother played it while her husband was out of the house. 　　Purim began her career in Brazil during the early 1960s. During this period, she made a recording, entitled Flora e M.P.M., in which she sang bossa nova standards of the day by Carlos Lyra and Roberto Menescal. Later in the 1960s, Purim was lead singer for the Quarteto Novo, led by Hermeto Pascoal and Airto Moreira. 　　After reaching young adulthood, Purim mixed jazz with radical protest songs to defy the repressive Brazilian government of that time.A 1964 military coup in Brazil led to censorship of song lyrics, and she later commented on this period of her life as follows: "I wanted to leave Brazil. There's a river there called the San Francisco River. I used to sing to the river, that, as it flowed out to the ocean, it would take me to America.