Roberto Batalha Menescal was born in Vitória, Espírito Santo, on October 25th, 1937, and already by age 18 he had made his professional debut, accompanying such artists as Silvinha Telles, Maysa, Elis Regina, and others. By the end of the 1950s (in 1958 to be more precise) he began a brilliant career as a composer, helping to create the sound known as Bossa Nova and placing him alongside such names as Carlos Lyra, Tom Jobim, and Ronaldo Bôscoli.

From that point onward, he became famous throughout the world for the different beat that he produced on his guitar. He is the author of such songs as “O barquinho", "Você", "Nós e o mar," among many other classics. During the period in which the US was producing and popularizing Jazz, Brazil was beginning to export the swing of Bossa Nova to the world.
Throughout Menescal’s forty-year career, he has always produced works of the highest caliber. In addition to recording with such important names as Paul Winter, Toots Thielemans, and Herbie Mann, and orchestrating albums for innumerable artists such as Maysa, Silvinhe Telles, Lúcio Alves, Caetano Veloso, João Bosco, and Alcione, Menescal also produced albums for Elis Regina, with whom he also worked as a musician and arranger, as well as for Leila Pinheiro, Chico Buarque, Emílio Santiago, Fagner, and others.

From 1970 to 1985 he was with Polygram Records as producer, artistic director, and general manager, until he left to found his own production company.

Today Menescal is the owner of the Albatroz production house, located on an island in the Barra da Tijuca section of Rio de Janeiro, accessible only by boat. He works in a new studio, which he named “Barquinho” after his 1961 hit song, where he has produced albums for Oswaldo Montenegro, Gilson Peranzeta, and Emílio Santiago.