Astrud Gilberto

Astrud Gilberto (Portuguese: [asˈtɾud ʒiwˈbɛʁtu]; born Astrud Evangelina Weinert; March 29, 1940 – June 5, 2023) was a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer and songwriter.

She gained international attention in the mid-1960s following her recording of the song "The Girl from Ipanema".

Biography

Astrud Gilberto was born Astrud Evangelina Weinert, the daughter of a Brazilian mother and a German father, in Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia, on March 29, 1940. She was raised in Rio de Janeiro. Her father was a language professor, and she became fluent in several languages.

She married João Gilberto in 1959. His affair with Miúcha, a Brazilian singer, caused the couple's separation. According to the Associated Press, their marriage ended in divorce in 1964 but a 2019 Facebook post by their son, João Marcelo Gilberto, said they had "merely separated" and never divorced.

Astrud Gilberto had another son, Gregory LaSorsa, with a second partner; Gregory performed music with his mother.

Gilberto later reportedly had an affair with her husband's musical collaborator, Stan Getz, a saxophonist, during a tour in 1964, which was reported on extensively by the Brazilian press. She later regretted her decision to tour with Getz, who mistreated her, and stated that she had done so because of dire financial need in the wake of her divorce. She described the experience as "tortuous".

She immigrated to the United States in 1963 and settled there permanently.

Astrud sang two songs on the 1963 album Getz/Gilberto, featuring João, Getz, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. While it was her first professional recording, Astrud Gilberto was not entirely a novice. She grew up immersed in music; her mother played multiple instruments. Gilberto sang often with João in Brazil, including a concert performance at the Faculdade de Arquitetura, part of one of the leading universities in Rio de Janeiro. Her whispery voice and steadfast approach to singing played a significant role in popularizing "The Girl from Ipanema", earning a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and a nomination for Best Vocal Performance by a Female.

The 1964 edited single of "The Girl from Ipanema" omitted the Portuguese lyrics sung by João Gilberto, and established Astrud Gilberto as a bossa nova singer. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. For the recording, Astrud Gilberto only received the standard session fee, US$120. According to writer Gene Lees in Singers and the Song II, Getz asked producer Creed Taylor to ensure she was paid no royalties on the single, which went on to sell more than five million copies. It became one of the most covered songs in the history of pop music. In 1964, Gilberto appeared in the films Get Yourself a College Girl and The Hanged Man. Her first solo album was The Astrud Gilberto Album (1965). Upon moving to the United States, she went on tour with Getz. Beginning as a singer of bossa nova and American jazz standards, Gilberto started to record her own compositions in the 1970s. She recorded songs in Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Japanese.

In 1982, Gilberto's son Marcelo joined her group, touring with her for more than a decade as a bassist. He also served as her road manager, sound technician and personal assistant. Her son Gregory LaSorsa played guitar on the Temperance album on the song "Beautiful You". In 1990 Gilberto and her two sons, João Marcelo and Gregory LaSorsa, together established Gregmar Productions, Inc., a production company aimed at promoting Gilberto's music and developing new material.

Gilberto received the Latin Jazz USA Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1992 and was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2002. 

In 1996, she contributed to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Rio produced by the Red Hot Organization, performing the song "Desafinado" (Portuguese for "slightly out of tune", or "off-key") along with George Michael at his invitation. Although she did not officially retire, Gilberto announced in 2002 that she was taking "indefinite time off" from public performances.

Gilberto's original recording of "Fly Me to the Moon" was featured with Frank Sinatra's version on the soundtrack of Down with Love (2003). Her recording "Who Can I Turn To?" was sampled by the Black Eyed Peas in the song "Like That" from their 2005 album Monkey Business. Gilberto's vocals on "Berimbau" were sampled by Cut Chemist in his song "The Garden". Her recording of "Once I Loved" was featured in the 2007 film Juno. On Basia's 1987 debut album, Time and Tide, the track "Astrud" is a tribute to her idol Gilberto.

Later in her life, Gilberto was an advocate of animal rights. She was the recipient of the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.

Gilberto died at home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 5, 2023, aged 83.

Selected discography

• The Astrud Gilberto Album (Verve, 1965)
• The Shadow of Your Smile (Verve, 1965)
• A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness (Verve, 1966, with Walter Wanderley)
• Look to the Rainbow (Verve, 1966)
• Beach Samba (Verve, 1967)
• Windy (Verve, 1968)
• September 17, 1969 (Verve, 1969)
• I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do (Verve, 1969)
• Gilberto Golden Japanese Album (Verve, 1970)
• Gilberto with Turrentine (CTI, 1971)
• Now (Perception, 1972)
• That Girl from Ipanema (Image, 1977)
• Plus (Polydor, 1986, with James Last)
• Live in New York (MVP, 1996)
• Jungle (Magya, 2002)