IfeTolentino was born in São Paulo/SP/Brazil. He is a guitarist, singer, composer, arranger and a bass player. He has an extensive career that began in 1970 where he recorded and performed throughout Brazil with artists such as Naná asconcelos, João Donato, Nara Leão.
Ife was co-leader of the Santarén Band where he was one of its composers and under the production of Fagner, he released the LP Santarén in 1980.
He moved to England in 1992 and became involved in several projects, recordings, concerts and jazz festivals working with some of the great European jazz musicians such as John Parricelli, Ingrid Laubrock, Liam Noble, Óskar Gudjónsson.

In 2012 he won the Brazilian Press Award UK 2012 (award for the best CD by a Brazilian artistbased in the United Kingdom) with the album ''Brazil in Black and White'' (a portrait of Chico Buarque).

Since 2002 he has been attending jazz festivals in Iceland where he also tours annually. There he recorded 2 albums: Você Passou Aqui in 2012, with his own compositions and rearrangements for some of the great Brazilian authors which, in addition to Iceland, was also launched in England and Brazil. In 2023 he also released the LP IFE in Iceland, with only his compositions.