Brazilian bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto is dead. She died at her home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of 83, TV Globo reported on Tuesday, citing the singer’s daughter-in-law Adriana Magalhães. According to her family, she succumbed to a heart condition. Her body is to be cremated in the United States.
“She died in the house she loved and where she painted her pictures. It’s a house full of works of art of hers, a thousand paintings. She died the way she wished. At that point she left in peace us,” said Magalhães. “Astrud was a great artistic role model for her granddaughters and children. She was a versatile artist who sang, composed and painted.”
“Girl from Ipanema” interpreted by Sinatra, Armstrong and Fitzgerald
With her husband, the Brazilian music legend João Gilberto, she introduced bossa nova to the whole world. The “New Wave” of Brazilian music was considered a modern mixture of samba and jazz. Astrud Gilberto sang the song “Girl from Ipanema” in English – it was later sung by numerous artists, including Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Caterina Valente and Ella Fitzgerald. After “Yesterday” by the Beatles, the song is now the most interpreted song ever.
Astrud Evangelina Weinert was born in 1940 as the daughter of a German immigrant and a Brazilian woman in Salvador da Bahia in the north of the country. As a child she moved to Rio de Janeiro with her family. She married João Gilberto when she was 19 and was soon performing alongside her husband and alongside artists such as Nara Leão, Johnny Alf and Elza Soares.
Years ago she once told her version of the day that was to change her life. Her husband João Gilberto had already told her in the New York hotel: “Today there’s a surprise for you.” In the studio, where Getz was already waiting, João asked her “casually” if she wanted to sing along in English. “This song will make you famous,” Getz said to the then 23-year-old. The Brazilian journalist and author Ruy Castro tells the day a little differently in his bossa nova standard work “Chega de Saudade”. After that, Astrud pushed her husband and Getz at the time to be allowed to take part in the song and sing an English version. “João tried to divert attention from the topic, but she wouldn’t be put off and found allies in others,” Castro described the scene.
The album “Getz/Gilberto” was a great success and received the 1964 Grammy for Album of the Year. “The Girl from Ipanema” won the Grammy for Best Single of the Year. After her separation from Gilberto in 1964, Astrud continued her singing career. In total she recorded 18 albums, partly in German, French and Italian. She gave concerts all over the world and was considered the “Bossa Nova Queen”.