Well after her commercial peak, she remained a popular live act, her singing becoming warmer and jazzier as she sang both covers and original material. She was married twice and had two sons, João Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, both of whom would work with her. Friends would always request that I sing at these gatherings, as well as at our own home when they would come to visit us.” “(João Gilberto) and I used to sing duets, or he would accompany me on guitar. By her teens, she was among a circle of musical friends and had met João Gilberto, a rising star in Rio’s emerging bossa nova scene.Īfter she met him, “The clan grew larger, to include ‘older’ folks” such as Tom Jobim, Vinícius de Moraes, Bené Nunes, Luis Bonfá and João Donato, and other respective "'other halves,'” she recalled. Of course, I go there as an incognito visitor, and not as a performer.”Īstrud Weinert was the youngest of three sisters, born into a family both musical and at ease with foreign languages: Her mother was a singer and violinist, her father a linguistics professor. ”I have no qualms with Brazilians, and I enjoy myself very much when I go to Brazil. “Isn’t there an ancient proverb to the effect that ‘No one is a prophet in his own land?’” she said in 2002. She also felt estranged from her native country, alleging she was treated dismissively by the press, and rarely performed there after she became a star. She would allege that she received no money for “The Girl from Ipanema” and that Taylor and Getz (who would refer to her as “just a housewife”) took undue credit for “discovering” her. Over the next few years, Gilberto toured with Getz among others and released eight albums (with songs in English and Portuguese), among them “The Astrud Gilberto Album,” “Beach Samba” and “The Shadow of Your Smile.” But after 1969, she made just seven more albums and by 2002 had essentially retired from the business and stopped giving interviews, dedicating her latter years to animal rights activism and a career in the visual arts. The poised, dark-haired singer was so closely associated with “The Girl from Ipanema” that some assumed she was the inspiration de Moraes had written the lyrics about a Brazilian teenager, Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto. “The Girl from Ipanema” won a Grammy in 1965 for record of the year and Gilberto received nominations for best new artist and best vocal performance. “Getz/Gilberto” sold more than 2 million copies and “The Girl from Ipanema,” released as a single with Astrud Gilberto the only vocalist, became an all-time standard, often ranked just behind “Yesterday” as the most covered song in modern times. But her words, translated from the Portuguese by Norman Gimbel, would be remembered like few others from the era. The rest, of course, as one would say, ‘is history.’”Īstrud Gilberto sings “The Girl from Ipanema” in a light, affectless style that influenced Sade and Suzanne Vega among others, as if she had already moved on to other matters. “When we were finished performing the song, Joao turned to Stan, and said something like: ‘Tomorrow Astrud sing on record… What do you think?’ Stan was very receptive, in fact very enthusiastic he said it was a great idea.
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