Carlos Mendes is a Portuguese singer, composer, actor and architect who started his career in 1963 as the founder of the group Sheiks, before he decided to go solo four years later. To date, he has released over a dozen studio albums.
He returned to represent his home country four years later in Edinburgh with the song "A festa da vida", which fared better by finishing in 7th place with 90 points, just two points behind the entry by Nicola di Bari of Italy, remaining the country's joint best result until the 1996 Contest in Oslo.
Post-Contest he continued to release music and participate in music festivals as well as studying to become an architect while also dabbling in acting projects in the 1990s.