Astrud Gilberto, whose first recorded song „The Girl From Ipanema” became a classic that ushered the bossa nova genre into international circulation, died on Monday at the age of 83.
„The Girl From Ipanema” was written by Antônio Carlos Jobim (one of the 20th century’s most significant composers) and major bossa nova poet Vinicius de Moraes, based on their lived experience of admiring a young beauty in Rio – and translated into English by Norman Gimbel (equally famous for co-writing „Killing Me Softly with His Song”). The Gilberto pair recorded the song with jazz saxophonist Stan Getz.
João Gilberto, Astrud’s husband at the time, was himself a singer and guitarist, known as the father of the Brazilian bossa nova, along with Jobim. It was in 1963 that the couple travelled to New York City to record with Getz, reports The New York Times.
Astrud described Getz’ and her husband’s decision to integrate her vocals into the recording as somewhat impromptu, and recalled Getz telling her: „This song is going to make you famous”.
After an affair with Getz, Astrud would divorce from João. Astrud Gilberto relocated to the United States, where she continued to perform – though „The Girl From Ipanema” would remain the iconic point of her career. She would remarry, and is survived two sons, who are both musicians.
The song was released in 1964 and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, making it the first jazz piece to do so. Since then, the song has been covered over 250 times (by Frank Sinatra, for instance) and has been featured in over 50 films.
In a 1996 interview, Astrud Gilberto mused that the song’s impact was in part due to the fact that after John F. Kennedy’s shocking assassination, Americans felt drawn to the song’s „dreamy” atmosphere – echoing Jackie Kennedy’s famous and nostalgic analogy to Camelot in the wake of her husband’s death. In the same interview, Gilberto encapsulated the bossa nova genre as „Brazilian music in a modern form”.
The bossa nova genre emerged in 1950s/60s in Rio and is a relaxed style of samba, remarkable for the ease with which it permeated American culture, which typically favored a less lyrical and more dynamic type of music in the era. The style became popular worldwide, likely for its pleasant and contemplative quality, but also its compatibility to dance, particularly in pairs.
