Brazilian bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto dies at 83

Singer Astrud Gilberto was reported to have passed away by her granddaughter and fellow artist Sofia Gilberto Oliveira on a social network on Tuesday (Jun. 6). “Life is beautiful, as the song says, but I come to bring you the sad news that my grandmother turned into a star today, joining my grandfather João Gilberto,” she wrote early this morning.

At 22, Astrud Gilberto voiced the The Girl from Ipanema—the English version of A Garota de Ipanema—and attained international fame. The iconic bossa nova ditty became the world’s second most played song.

Bossa nova and jazz

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Born Astrud Evangelina Weinert in the city of Salvador, Bahia, on March 29, 1940, she adopted the surname Gilberto after marrying singer and composer João Gilberto, who died in 2019. Astrud Gilberto performed bossa nova and American jazz songs, and started recording her own compositions in the 1970s.

No information has been disclosed regarding the place and cause of death, or the wake.