'Girl from Ipanema' singer Astrud Gilberto dead at 83

Anna Pelegri, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Astrud Gilberto in 1966. " src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/entertainment/06/06/20230606-astrud-gilberto.jpg"/><figcaption>Astrud Gilberto in 1966. </figcaption></figure></div><p>RIO DE JANEIRO - Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer whose soft, beguiling voice made &quot;The Girl from Ipanema&quot; a worldwide sensation in the 1960s and provided a huge boost to the budding bossa nova genre, has died at age 83, her family said.</p><p>&quot;I come bearing the sad news that my grandmother became a star today and is next to my grandfather Joao Gilberto,&quot; Sofia Gilberto wrote on social media early Tuesday.</p><p>The singer was born in Salvador, capital of Brazil&#x27;s northeastern state of Bahia, in 1940 and was married to Joao Gilberto, a pioneer of the bossa nova genre who died in 2019.</p><p>Astrud Gilberto recorded 19 albums in her career, but she had little professional music experience when she turned &quot;The Girl from Ipanema&quot; -- the song by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes -- into a global smash singing the English verses alongside American saxophonist Stan Getz.</p><p>The version made Gilberto the first Brazilian to be nominated for a Grammy -- which she won, for song of the year, in 1965.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/05/25/23/rock-queen-tina-turner-has-died-at-83">Simply the best: Rock queen Tina Turner has died at 83</a></li></ul><div><strong>&#x27;QUEEN OF BOSSA NOVA&#x27;</strong></div><p>The silky-smooth song changed Gilberto&#x27;s life, turning it upside down both personally and professionally.</p><p>As she told the story, she owed her popularity to an off-the-cuff suggestion by Joao Gilberto while they were recording it in New York to try singing in English.</p><p>&quot;That song is going to make you famous,&quot; Getz told her in the studio.</p><p>It was apparently not just her music that wowed the saxophonist -- and vice versa.</p><p>She ended up leaving her husband for Getz and moving to the United States.</p><p>But that turbulent period in her life produced some of the best-loved recordings of all time, including the live album of the three friends&#x27; concert at New York&#x27;s Carnegie Hall in October 1964.</p><p>Aged just 24, Gilberto suffered from stage fright, which she overcame by taking theater classes at the Stella Adler acting academy.</p><p>The pretty young brunette wowed audiences with her satin voice, which she took on tour with Getz. She earned the nickname &quot;The Queen of Bossa Nova,&quot; bringing the syncopated, relaxed Brazilian musical style to the world.</p><p>She remained in the US after separating from Getz, continuing her career with hits such as &quot;Fly Me to the Moon&quot; (1972) and &quot;Far Away&quot; (1977), and turning to songwriting with the albums &quot;Astrud Gilberto Now&quot; and &quot;That Girl From Ipanema.&quot;</p><p>After a career touring the world, she retired from the stage in 2001. She was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame the following year.</p><p>In 2008, she was awarded a Latin Grammy for lifetime achievement.</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eIRv9lv0hh4?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Gilberto is the first Brazilian to be nominated for a Grammy -- which she won, for song of the year, in 1965.

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'Girl from Ipanema' singer Astrud Gilberto dead at 83

'Girl from Ipanema' singer Astrud Gilberto dead at 83

Anna Pelegri,

Agence France-Presse

Published Jun 06, 2023 11:03 PM PHT

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