Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto, performer of the famous song The Girl from Ipanema, has died at the age of 83, her family announced on social media on Tuesday morning.
“I bring the sad news that my grandmother became a star today and stands by my grandfather Joao Gilberto,” also a singer, who died in 2019, their granddaughter Sofia wrote. Gilberto. According to the G1 news site, Astrud Gilberto died at her home in Philadelphia, USA.
The singer had just been established in the United States for almost 60 years, so that she was better known on the international scene than in her country of origin. “As a Brazilian, Astrud was a bit of a foreign singer for me, tells us the singer Bïa, established in Quebec for almost 20 years. It’s delicious to listen to, we recognize his place and the quality of his work, but it’s not an album we had at home.
“It was therefore in France at the start of my career that I discovered the real influence of Astrud”, continues the one who will host this summer the second season of the program Sous le soleil de Bïa, at ICI Musique. “The Girl from Ipanema was playing everywhere, people were all coming to tell me about it, I was like, ‘God, that woman opened the doors that I’m going through.’ »
Born in 1940 in Salvador, in the northeast of Brazil, she has been considered the “queen of bossa nova”, with a discography that includes 19 albums – her last, Jungle, dates from 2002. But it is first and foremost thanks to the timeless Girl form Ipanema that she has achieved immortal status. It was moreover somewhat by accident that she was called upon in 1962 to perform the chorus in English of the piece composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes during a recording session in New York. with saxophonist Stan Getz – who would become Astrud Gilberto’s second husband. This performance made her the first Brazilian singer to win a Grammy, with the album of the year 1964.
“It’s undeniable what she brought to Brazilian music,” says Monica Freire, a Brazilian singer based in Quebec. “She is one of the first women to receive a Grammy, she has always been surrounded by musical giants. I don’t know if her influence was so great in Brazil, but The Girl from Ipanema definitely put Brazil on the world map. »
— March 30, 1940: Birth in Salvador de Bahia (Nordeste) of Astrud Gilberto, born Weinert of a Brazilian mother and a German father, who then spent her youth in Rio de Janeiro.
— 1959: She married singer and guitarist Joao Gilberto and four years later they moved to the United States where she lived until her death.
— 1964: She became famous with The Girl from Ipanema where, with a few lines sung in English, she won the Grammy for best record of the year. This one was recorded in New York with Joao Gilberto and American saxophonist Stan Getz, for which she will leave her husband.
— 1972: After the success of Fly Me to the Moon, she distinguished herself as a composer with her album Astrud Gilberto Now.
— 1977: Release of Far Away, the flagship title of his album That Girl from Ipanema, with lyrics by Hal Shaper, sung in duet with Chet Baker, his teenage idol.
— Early 1980s: Tours Europe, Japan, Canada and the United States with his band of musicians, including one of his two sons, Marcelo Gilberto, on bass.
— 1992: Winner of the Latin Jazz USA Lifetime Achievement Award.
— 2001: Last public appearance of Astrud Gilberto, who devoted herself to painting and defending animal rights.
— 2002: Inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in New York.
— 2008: Astrud Gilberto, who spent the last years of her life in Philadelphia, was awarded a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
