Astrud Gilberto’s voice was “weak”, but sweet and precise, taking bossa nova from the south zone of Rio to an international status still present even decades later. Ironically, it was this girl from Bahia who made Ipanema famous, but at the age of 83, she died in New York. Her granddaughter, Linda Sofia, shared the news on Instagram. “I come to bring you the sad news that my grandmother became a star today,” she wrote. Astrud had been away from the stage since 2002, her cause of death, on June 5, was not revealed.

Astrud, born Astrud Evangelina Weinert in Salvador, Bahia, never imagined she would be a music star. She grew up in Rio de Janeiro and was a childhood friend of Nara Leão, who introduced her to João Gilberto. Her debut recording – with Garota de Ipanema – happened by chance, when she offered to sing on the English version of the 1962 track, on the album by saxophonist Stan Getz, who was recording with João Gilberto. That happened 60 years ago, on March 18, 1963. When the lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes were translated into English by Norman Gimbel, João was going to sing in the original language, but she was in the studio and offered to sing the version in English, even without being a professional singer. (After all, her voice was perfect for the musical style that emerged in the south of Rio).

Garota de Ipanema became a worldwide hit in 1964, with this recording selling over five million copies worldwide, forever popularizing bossa nova. Astrud became a star, nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance, and with the song won the Grammy for Song of the Year. However, not everything was rosy behind the scenes. The artist complained that she was only paid $120 for the recording (and no royalties) in addition to not being properly credited for the performance.

Astrud’s resentment is rooted in the way she was treated by the domineering men who surrounded her early in her career, who also didn’t take her seriously enough to think about fairness or artistic worth. Stan Getz, years later, claimed that he was the person who “discovered her” by insisting that she sing, saying that Astrud was just a “housewife” before that. “She was lucky”, he simplified years later in an interview with the English magazine Jazz Professional, in 1964.

The union with João Gilberto lasted five years, between 1959 and 1964 and they had a son, Marcelo. Astrud never returned to live in Brazil, settling in the United States. She married Nicholas LaSorsa with whom she had a son, Greg. Averse to the stage, and tired of the way she was treated by critics and record companies, she withdrew from public life in 2002, leaving 17 studio albums and two live behind her.

What nobody denies is that her legend is the opposite of the size of her voice and that even today influences artists like Billie Eilish and Suzanne Vega, among others. It wasn’t her luck, it was ours.

Search

Search