Popular Bossa Nova Star Astrud Gilberto Dies at 83
Image courtesy of musicfactory-berlin.org
What. A. Legend.
Astrud Gilberto, whose bubbly and dreamy song that brought bossa nova to the United States with the song “The Girl From Ipanema” passed away late Monday night (June 5) at the age of 83. No cause of death was given.
Paul Ricci, a collaborator with Gilberto, confirmed the news on social media. He had been asked to announce it by Gilberto’s son Marcelo.
“She was an important part of ALL that is Brazilian music in the world and she changed many lives with her energy.”
Astrud’s granddaughter, musician Sofia Gilberto wrote on Facebook translated from Portuguese: “I love and will love Astrud eternally and she was the face and voice of bossa nova on most of the planet. Astrud will forever be in our hearts, and in this moment we have to celebrate Astrud.”
She was born on March 30, 1940 as Astrud Evangelina Weinertin in Salvador, Bahia, and was raised in Rio by the daughter of a German father and a Brazilian mother. When she was 19, she married the bossa nova pioneer João Gilberto in 1959. The marriage did not last long, but she managed to keep his name for the rest of her life.
A smart move.
Very smart move.
An open-air pub where the lyrics to Garota de Ipanema was the birthplace to the song. Ironically, the pub has been renamed for the song ever since.
Her big break came with tagging along with Stan Getz in 1963. João Gilberto went to New York to record the album Getz/Gilberto. Producer Creed Taylor wanted to record a version of the Brazilian song “Garota De Ipanema” in English, and Astrud’s father was a language professor. He was the only Brazilian during that session who spoke English. Prior to this, Astrud had never recorded anything before the song that would become a dreamy, bubbly, and effervescent single around the world.
With the “Ahhhhh” sound added on in helping make many guy’s hearts beat a bit faster, the song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and ended up winning the Grammy for Song Of The Year.
Astrud Gilberto was reportedly paid nothing for recording “The Girl In Ipanema,” but the song’s success managed to lead to a movie career which included the film Don Siegel’s The Hanged Man, and played herself in the 1964 movie Get Yourself A College Girl.
She released her debut album The Astrud Gilberto Album in 1965. Around that time, Astrud moved full time to the United States shortly after divorcing João. She toured with Stan Getz, and she continued to record over the rest of the 20th century. In 1966 she worked with Quincy Jones on the soundtrack for the Sidney Lumet spy thriller The Deadly Affair. In 1996, Gilberto teamed up with the late George Michael of Wham! fame on the Brazilian song “Desafinado” for the benefit compilation Red Hot + Rio.
The Guardian mentioned in their obituary that:
“She never enjoyed massive success as a soloist, but was a prolific artist and continued to collaborate with other major musicians. She began writing her own songs in the 1970s, and her 1977 album, That Girl from Ipanema, included a duet with the jazz trumpeter Chet Baker on one of her songs, “Far Away.”
In the early 1980s she formed a band that included her son Marcelo playing bass, and in 1987 she recorded an album with the James Last Orchestra that included several of her own new songs, including “Champagne & Caviar”.
In 2002 she was inducted into the Latin Music Hall of Fame, and released what would be her final album, Jungle, which featured 10 of her original new songs. She also announced she was taking “indefinite time off” from public performances…In 2008 she was awarded a lifetime achievement Grammy by the Latin Recording Academy.”
She is survived by Marcelo, her son with João Gilberto, and her son Gregory, from another relationship.
Here are a few other hit songs from her illustrious career and the reviews I did profiling her most famous albums.
For many years she was the voice of the former Eastern Airlines and appeared in their TV commercials.
Here is the audio from some of those ads:
May she RIP as she forever joins Gal Costa in heaven.
Information About Brazilian Jazz Legends and Rising Artists 