Astrud Gilberto, the voice of Bossa Nova in English, dies at 83

Astrud Gilberto, who became one of the best-known Brazilian voices internationally after singing “Girl From Ipanema,” her debut recording, died on Monday in her home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Family members confirmed her passing on social media. She was 83.

Born Astrud Evangelina Weinert in Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia, Ms. Gilberto moved to Rio de Janeiro as an infant, spending her formative years there. In 1959, she married João Gilberto, a brilliant musician who was known as the “father of Bossa Nova,” a style that emerged in 1950s Rio de Janeiro mixing influences from samba and American jazz music.

Bossa nova emerged as a way of making traditional samba rhythms current and innovative. The samba was stripped back and slowed down, with elements of jazz thrown into the mix, largely thanks to João Gilberto’s genius.

Ms. Gilberto is best known for her interpretation of “Girl From Ipanema,” the English version of one of the most famous bossa nova songs — written by Tom Jobim and Luiz Bonfa, with English lyrics by Norman Gimbel. It was the first recording of her life.

The song became a hit in the U.S. and made bossa nova known internationally.

The tune was a single from the Getz/Gilberto album, recorded by Mr. Getz and Ms. Gilberto’s then-husband. 

“While rehearsing with Stan in the song ‘The Girl From Ipanema,’ João casually asked me to join in and sing a chorus in English after he had just sung the first chorus in Portuguese,” she said in a 2002 interview published on her official website. “Stan said to me, ‘This song is going to make you famous.’”

It did more than that. Her performance made her the first woman to win, in 1965, a Grammy Award for record of the year, alongside jazz saxophonist Stan Getz. That year, Astrud Gilberto was also nominated for best female pop vocal performance, won by Barbra Streisand, and best new artist, won by the Beatles.

She would be named for the Grammys the following year, for “The Astrud Gilberto Album.” In 2008, she was awarded a Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement. 

Her marriage to João Gilberto (who died in 2019) would last until 1964, after which she kept living in the U.S. Astrud Gilberto is survived by two sons and two granddaughters.

• #culture
• #music