The perfect voice for that song.
Posted on 06/06/2023 9:15:01 PM PDT by texas booster
"I come bearing the sad news that my grandmother became a star today and is next to my grandfather Joao Gilberto," Sofia Gilberto wrote on social media early Tuesday.
The singer died at home in Philadelphia, in the United States, where she had lived since the 1960s.
Gilberto was born in Salvador, capital of Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, in 1940 and was married to Joao Gilberto, a pioneer of the bossa nova genre who died in 2019.
Astrud Gilberto recorded 19 albums in her career, but she had little professional music experience when she turned "The Girl from Ipanema" -- the now-classic song by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes -- into a global smash, singing the English verses alongside American saxophonist Stan Getz and her guitar-playing then-husband.
The silky-smooth song changed Gilberto's life, turning it upside down both personally and professionally.
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 a verse in English.
Aged just 24 at the time, Gilberto suffered from stage fright, which she overcame by taking theater classes at the Stella Adler acting academy.
But she claimed she never earned any royalties from her best-known song, saying she received just a day rate for recording it.
She remained in the US after separating from Getz, continuing her career with hits such as "Fly Me to the Moon" (1972) and "Far Away" (1977), and turning to songwriting with the albums "Astrud Gilberto Now" and "That Girl from Ipanema."
It was the latest loss for Brazilian music lovers, after rock icon Rita Lee died last month at age 75 and popular music legend Gal Costa, a leading figure in the "Tropicalia" movement, died in November at 77.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Been hearing the song a lot lately.
The perfect voice for that song.
With the smooth saxophonist.
Should she be classified as a One Hit Wonder?
I like the B-52s “Girl from Ipanema” better.
Hits, maybe not so many, but she had a long and well received recording career. A beautiful lady who deserved far better than she got from the abusive Stan Getz. RIP Astrud, under Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars...
Those who love the Girl from Ipanema and are willing to learn a little music theory might find this video to be quite interesting. It’s a complex song, and quite unique:
The Girl From Ipanema is a far weirder song than you thought
I just watched her. Terrible singer. Breathes a lot during singing.
I’ve had Jobim’s “Wave” album on heavy rotation recently.
Such great music.
Mark Steyn had a write-up on The Girl from Ipanema some time back. The recording was almost an afterthought, and Gilberto was someone's wife and was just hanging around, so they asked her to sing the lyrics. Some of the biggest things in pop culture are often accidents.
Kinda weird for the time for a song about a hot, sexy girl to be sung by another girl...
In that light I agree that it is strange.
But if the song is about a girl who is so into herself that she doesn’t notice anyone else about her ... and the local patron’s reaction thereof ... makes some sense.
Still a pretty song.
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