Free Republic

"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"...

João Gilberto: Brazilian 'father of bossa nova' dies aged 88 Influential Brazilian musician João Gilberto has died aged 88. The singer and composer was known best as a pioneer of the bossa nova genre, which found international popularity in the 1960s. Reports say Gilberto died at home in Rio de Janeiro after a period of illness. His son confirmed the news of his death in a Saturday Facebook post. "His fight was noble, he tried to maintain dignity," Marcelo Gilberto said. Born in the north-east state of Bahia in 1931, Gilberto began singing aged 18. ◾João Gilberto BBC music page...

“Tall and tan and young and lovely…” You’ve heard of her. The Girl From Ipanema. You might have come across the bossa nova classic while on hold on the phone, during a long elevator ride, or in a cafe in Beirut or Bangkok _ but you’ve heard it. It’s been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Amy Winehouse, and survived bad lounge singers and Muzak incarnations to become, according to Performing Songwriter magazine, the second most recorded song in the world. The quintessential bossa nova tune, inspired by a young woman who passed the songwriters in a beachside bar...