Death of Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto, singer of "Girl from Ipanema"

Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto, a figure of bossa nova and interpreter of the famous song "Girl from Ipanema", has died at the age of 83, her family announced Tuesday morning on social networks.

Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto on October 2, 1966 in Amsterdam. © Wikimedia Commons CC0 Ron Kroon

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I bring the sad news that my grandmother has become a star today and that she is with my grandfather João Gilberto ", also a singer, who died in 2019, wrote their granddaughter Sofia Gilberto. According to the G1 news site, Astrud Gilberto died at her home in Philadelphia, USA. With a few stanzas sung in English in a sweet and melancholic voice, the Brazilian Astrud Gilberto had become "The Girl from Ipanema", the first "queen of bossa nova".

A Grammy Award for the best record of the year 1964 rewarded this legendary version of "A Garota de Ipanema", by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes. She says she owes her popularity to an unexpected proposal by Joao Gilberto, in full rehearsal with Stan Getz, to make her sing a chorus in English. "This song will make you famous," the saxophonist predicts in the recording studio. At 24, with her wise and gentle look, the pretty brunette immediately conquers the public, but to overcome her fear of the stage she must attend theater classes at the Stella Adler School in New York. The concert of the three friends at Carnegie Hall in New York, in October 1964, brought them to the pinnacle.

Many successes, despite his discreet personality

After "The Girl from Ipanema", she continued her career in the United States where she stayed after her divorce from Joao Gilberto, then her separation from Stan Getz. "Fly Me to the Moon" (1972) is a new major success for the singer who becomes a composer with the albums "Astrud Gilberto Now" and "That Girl from Ipanema" where on lyrics by Hal Shaper, she also stands out with "Far Away", sung in duet with Chet Baker, the idol of her adolescence. His overcame shyness allowed him to tour throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, with his group of musicians, including Marcelo Gilberto, one of his two sons, on bass.

With him and her brother Gregory Lasorsa, she created Gregmar Productions, which released a tribute album to Antonio Carlos Jobim. The year 2001 is the year of the last appearance on stage of the artist who, after a Latin Jazz USA Award, is inducted in New York into the Latin Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, she received a Latin Grammy Award for her lifetime achievement.

Away from the spotlight, Astrud Gilberto lived his last years in Philadelphia, USA, and devoted himself to painting and fighting for animal rights. She died less than four years after Joao Gilberto, who died in July 2019.

With her, Brazil has just lost a third renowned singer in a few months: Gal Costa, icon of tropicalism who died in November, and Rita Lee, queen of Brazilian rock, who died in May.

(

With AFP)

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