Brazilian singer, composer, and performer Astrud Gilberto has passed away at the age of 83. Her off-handed English-language cameo on “The Girl from Ipanema” made her a recognized bossa nova icon worldwide.
Family friend and musician Paul Ricci confirmed her passing on Monday. He didn’t give any more information.
Gilberto was raised in Rio de Janeiro and was born in Salvador, Bahia. In 1964, she became an overnight, unanticipated star because the producers of “Getz/Gilberto,” the legendary bossa nova album featuring saxophonist Stan Getz and her then-husband, singer-songwriter-guitarist Joo Gilberto, hired her because she knew just enough English to be hired.
Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes’ melancholy ballad, “The Girl from Ipanema,” was already well-known in South America. However, “s” producer Creed Taylor and others believed that adding vocals in both Portuguese and English would broaden the record’s appeal. Astrud Gilberto recalled her spouse telling her he had a surprise for her at the recording studio in a 2002 chat with friends published on her website, www.astrudgilberto.com.
I pleaded with him to tell me what it was, but he refused and kept saying, “Wait and see. Later, when Joao and Stan were rehearsing “The Girl from Ipanema,” Joao invited me to join in and sing a chorus in English after he had just finished singing the first chorus in Portuguese. So I did exactly that,” she said.
“After the song was finished, Joao turned to Stan and said something along the lines of, ‘Tomorrow Astrud sing on record.'” How do you feel? Stan was open to the concept and even expressed considerable enthusiasm for it. The rest, of course, is history, as they say.
Brazilian singer, composer, and performer Astrud Gilberto has passed away at the age of 83
Astrud Gilberto performs “The Girl from Ipanema” in a carefree, affectless manner that, among others, impacted Sade and Suzanne Vega. She has moved on to other topics. However, only some other words from the time would be as well remembered as hers, which Norman Gimbel had translated from Portuguese.
tall, youthful, and beautiful
The Ipanema girl strolls around.
And after she leaves
She says “Ah” to each person she passes.
More than 2 million copies of “Getz/Gilberto” were sold, and “The Girl from Ipanema,” released as a single and featured solely Astrud Gilberto as the vocalist quickly rose to fame. It is sometimes considered second only to “Yesterday” regarding the number of covers in the modern era.
Gilberto was nominated for best new artist and vocal performance, and “The Girl from Ipanema” won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. De Moraes had penned the lyrics about a Brazilian adolescent named Helosa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, but the poised, dark-haired singer was so intimately connected with “The Girl from Ipanema” that several people assumed she was the inspiration.
Gilberto recorded eight albums (containing songs in English and Portuguese) throughout the following few years, including “The Astrud Gilberto Album,” “Beach Samba,” and “The Shadow of Your Smile.” He also went on tour with Getz and other musicians.
She only released seven albums after 1969, and by 2002 she had largely given up on the music industry and ceased doing interviews. Instead, she devoted her later years to animal rights activism and a career in the visual arts. She would claim that she was not paid for “The Girl from Ipanema” and that Taylor and Getz (who would describe her as “just a housewife”) improperly claimed credit for “discovering” her. In addition, she felt alienated from her home country since she said the press treated her with contempt and played there infrequently once she rose to fame.
In 2002, she remarked, “Isn’t there an old saying that goes, ‘No one is a prophet in his land’?” “I don’t have any issues with Brazilians, and I have a great time there. Of course, I don’t go there as a performer but as an anonymous tourist.
Astrud Weinert, the youngest of three sisters, came from a musical and linguistically literate household. Her mother was a singer and violinist, while her father was a linguistics professor. By the time she was in her teens, she had already met rising bossa nova artist Joo Gilberto and was part of a group of musical pals.
When she first met him, “The clan grew larger, to include ‘older’ folks” like Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Bené Nunes, Luis Bonfá, and Joo Donato, as well as their respective “‘ other halves,'” she recalled. “(Joo Gilberto) and I used to sing duets together, or he’d play guitar and play along with me. When friends visited us, they always wanted me to sing at these events and in our house.
Brazilian singer, composer, and performer Astrud Gilberto has passed away at the age of 83
She had two sons, Joo Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, who would both work with her. She was twice married. She continued to be a famous live performer even after her commercial zenith, her voice growing warmer and jazzier as she sang covers and songs.
As a recording artist, she also had several memorable performances, including backing trumpeter Chet Baker on “Fly Me to the Moon” and duet with George Michael on the bossa nova classic “Desafinado.” She was awarded a Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement in 2008.
“Occasionally, a dissatisfied journalist has called me ‘a recluse.’ According to the dictionary, a recluse is “a person who withdraws from the world to live in seclusion and frequently in solitude.” Why should someone think an artist is a loner just because they prefer not to participate in interviews? she said in 2002.
“I firmly believe that any artist who achieves fame through their work, whether it be music, film, or any other medium, has no moral obligation to satiate the curiosity of journalists, fans, or any other members of the public about their personal lives or anything else that does not directly relate to their work. My work speaks for itself, regardless of how well or poorly it is received.
SOURCE – (AP)
