Elis Regina Carvalho da Costa (March 17, 1945 - January 19, 1982) was among the most popular female singers in Brazil in the 60s and 70s.

Elis Regina was born in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil where she began her career as singer at age 11 on a children's radio show, Rádio Farroupilha.

In 1959, she was contracted by Rádio Gaúcha and in the next year she travelled to Rio de Janeiro where she recorded her first LP, Viva a Brotolândia.

She won her first festival song contest in 1965 singing Arrastão by Edu Lobo and Vinícius de Morais. Her second LP with Jair Rodrigues, Dois na Bossa, set a national sales record.

In the late 60's and early 70's, Regina helped to popularize the work of the tropicalia movement, recording songs by such musicians as Gilberto Gil.

Elis Regina sometimes criticized the Brazilian dictatorship which had persecuted and exiled many musicians of her generation. In a 1969 interview, she opined that Brazil was being run by "gorillas". Her popularity kept her out of jail, but she was eventually compelled by the authorities to sing the Brazilian national anthem in a stadium show, drawing the ire of many Brazilian Leftists.

Elis Regina finally succumbed to a cocaine addiction in 1982, at 36 years old, having recorded dozens of top-selling records in her career.