Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
“Tall, and tan, and young, and lovely” is one of the most famous verses in music history. It was “The Girl From Ipanema,” sung by Astrud Gilberto (born Astrud Evangelina Weinert), a Brazilian samba and bossa nova composer.
The song was the first song Gilberto ever recorded, and thanks to her voice, she transformed bossa nova into an international phenomenon in the mid-1960s.
Although the singer did not resemble the girl from Ipanema that her song described, her voice made anyone imagine long legs walking in front of a restaurant.
Gilberto had a prolific career spanning four decades until she unofficially retired in 2002. However, her life is an entire chapter in the history of Latin American music.
A talent straight from Salvador de Bahia
Astrud Gilberto was born in 1940 in Salvador de Bahia and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. Thanks to her father, a language teacher, the singer grew up fluent in several languages, which would serve her well later in her career.
At 19, Gilberto married João Gilberto, with whom she experienced life as a professional musician for the first time. Although the young woman knew music, her husband took her to record her first song after seeing the reaction of their guests when they sang together at home.
With João, Gilberto often sang in Brazil. She recorded two tracks on the 1963 “Getz/Gilberto” album featuring João, saxophonist Stan Getz, and the iconic Antônio Carlos Jobin.
“While rehearsing with Stan, João casually asked me to join in and sing a chorus in English after he had just sung the first chorus in Portuguese,” Gilberto said in a 2002 interview.
“Stan was very receptive, in fact, very enthusiastic,” she continued. “I’ll never forget that while we were listening back to the just recorded song at the studio’s control room, Stan said to me, with a very dramatic expression, ‘This song is going to make you famous.'”
Astrud Gilberto and ‘The Girl from Ipanema’
Her song “The Girl from Ipanema” earned her a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance nomination.
The 1964 single established Astrud Gilberto as a bossa nova singer. However, although it sold over a million copies, the singer only received $120 in standard one-session fees.
This was due to the intervention of Getz, with whom Gilberto had an extramarital affair until her divorce from João. The singer would confess many years later that her relationship with Getz was “tortuous” and that she kept it up out of financial necessity.
A new life in the United States
After the love failures and after the success of bossa nova in the United States, Astrud Gilberto emigrated to the north. “The Girl from Ipanema” quickly became one of the most covered songs in pop music history, opening the doors to Hollywood for the singer.
Gilberto appeared in films such as “Get Yourself a College Girl” and “The Hanged Man” in 1964. Just a year later, she released her first solo album, “The Astrud Gilberto Album.” Although her relationship with Getz continued for some time, Gilberto began recording her compositions in the 1970s. She formed her own band with his son Marcelo on bass.
“I think when my son Marcelo joined my group as my bass player in 1982, it was also a mark,” Gilberto said. “His presence in the group made me feel emotionally sheltered when we traveled, besides personally proud of his talents; these were happy influences in my life that were also positive influences in my productivity as an artist.”
Together with Marcelo and her second son, Gregory Lasorsa, Astrud Gilberto founded her own production company. By the early 1990s, she was already an icon. Gilberto received the Latin Jazz USA Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1992. She was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2002.
A voice that becomes a whisper
Although Gilberto announced in 2002 that she was taking an indefinite break from public performances, her songs appeared in several films, and her music was sampled by pop artists of the new generation.
“I always had difficulty with planning for the long-term future. I kinda like to take life one day at a time,” she said about her unofficial retirement.
Not a fan of interviews, Gilberto quietly retired from the public scene and from the stage.
Astrud Gilberto said goodbye to the physical world on Monday, June 5, 2023. Gilberto passed away at 83 at her home in Philadelphia, Paul Ricci, a collaborator with Gilberto, announced on social media.
“She was an important part of ALL that is Brazilian music in the world, and she changed many lives with her energy,” he added.
