Astrud Gilberto, the bossa nova singer remembered from the famous recording of "The Girl From Ipanema", has died at the age of 83. Gilberto's son, Marcelo, confirmed to The Independent that his mother died on Monday. As of now, the cause of her death has not yet been released.
Gilberto was born Astrud Evangelina Weinert in Salvador in 1940. During her career, which began in the 60s, the singer recorded 16 studio albums and two live albums.
"The Girl from Ipanema" Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto and Stan Getz
Her version of "The Girl from Ipanema" was inspired by the song "Garota de Ipanema", originally composed in 1962 by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moorea. The English version, in which Astrud took part, was recorded by American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist Juan Gilberto in March 1963. For this purpose, the lyrics of the song were translated from Portuguese to English by Norman Gimbel.
According to music producer Phil Ramon, Gilberto's participation in the song happened by chance. As Ramon told JazzWax in 2010, the singer was in the studio when the translated lyrics arrived. The song's producer, Creed Taylor, was looking for someone who could sing in English, and Gilberto volunteered to do so.
The song was a huge hit worldwide, with sales of more than five million copies, and is considered one of the best-known bossa nova songs in history. Astrud was nominated for a Grammy Award for Female Vocal Performance, and the song itself won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
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