He was born Lúcio Matias de Sousa Mendes in the town of Tarrafal in the island of Santiago's north in the final decade of Portuguese rule, he is a descendant of Jorge and Garda Brito. Mário Lúcio lost his father when he was 12. At age 15, he and his seven siblings lost his mother. He lived in the barrack buildings of the Cape Verdean forces in his hometown under the care ofthe military. After finishing the secondary school, he received a state scholarship and attended the high school, the Instituto Superior de Educação in the capital city of Praia to study. In 1984, he received a scholarship by the Cuban government in Havana where he studied and graduated six years later. He returned to his country where he practiced law. Between 1996 and 2001, he was member of the Cape Verdean parliament.
Musical career
He later founded the bandSimentera. His ideas received an invitation by his government and became author of the Cape Verdean Musical Projects for Expo 92 in Seville and Expo 98 in Lisbon. He is a founder and director of Quintal da Música Cultural Association, a private cultural center featuring traditional music. As a composer, he was a member of SACEM with compositions that Cesária Évora and other Cape Verdean artists recorded. He is the permanent composer of the Raiz di Polon Company, the only contemporary dance formation in the islands. In 1996, he recorded an album Nôs Morna, Ildo Lobo's first solo album. He composed at a request of the Porto European Culture Capital on the soundtrack of the play Adão e as Sete Pretas de Fuligem, performed by João Branco. He later attended at Fesquintal de Jazz, the Cape Verde International Jazz Festival whom he founded, several concerts in Brazil and Cuba as well as some European Countries and the African mainland, his notable appearance was the 2011 FMM Festival das Musicaus do Mundo in Sines, Portugal on June 24.
Bibliographical works and paintings
He is also a painter and participate in some of his exhibitions. He also appeared in poetry, and theater. In 2009, he wrote a novel titled Testamento published by Dom Quixote, his recent novel won the Carlos de Olvieira Award and was a bestseller in Portugal. His next novel released in 2014 was Biografia do Língua which about the history of a language, the novel won the Miguel Torga Literary Award in July 2015.
In late 2011 after the elections, he became Capeverdean Minister of Culture for five years, he succeeded Manuel Veiga as minister. In his first year on November 2 and 3, he went to Paris to visit with the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture. After the 2016 general election, Álvaro Anibal Barbosa Vicente succeeded Mário Lúcio Sousa as culture minister.
