Boy from ipanema astrud gilberto biography
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She sang regularly with her husband and his friends over the next three years and had even performed in public at the Faculdade De Arquitetura, part of one of Rio De Janeiro’s top universities, in a prestigious concert.
Her rise to stardom was so quick that she was signed up to perform her hit song – wearing a pale-blue sundress with matching bow – in the December 1964 MGM film Get Yourself A College Girl, appearing alongside The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, and jazz organ great Jimmy Smith, in a college romance movie directed by Sidney Miller, a man who went on to direct the hit television show Bewitched.
But I don’t: I prefer simplicity. The fact that Astrud seldom grants interviews made it possible for many untruthful versions on how her guest appearance in the Getz & Gilberto album came about to be printed here and there, such as that she was "discovered" by Creed Taylor, or by Stan Getz, or yet, by Jobim, when the only truth is that she was invited to participate in the album by João Gilberto, who has great admiration for her singing talents.
Astrud's recordings exposed the nations of the World to the sensuality of Brazilian music and to her unique vocal interpretations of American music, such as "The Shadow of your Smile", "It Might as well be Spring", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Look to the Rainbow" (from her album of the same title, with Gil Evans), "Love Story", etc...
Following the hit with "Ipanema", her recording career quickly took off.
They portrayed her as lucky rather than talented, in the right place at the right time,” said music writer Bryan McCann in his book Getz/Gilberto. She announced in 2002 that she was taking “indefinite time off” from public performance and curtailed her professional career after that. In 1996, they reconnected when Michael asked her to perform on a charity record for AIDS research.
“I knew the song was going to be an absolute smash.”
As well as singing on “The Girl From Ipanema,” Astrud Gilberto was also the vocalist for the song “Corcovado” (“Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars”), which features some enchantingly delicate accompaniment from Jobim and a brilliant solo from Getz. It was the only jazz album to win Album of the Year until Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters in 2008.
The couple’s son, Marcelo Gilberto, confirmed her death.
The family settled in Rio de Janeiro when Astrud was eight, in a home on the Avenida Atlântica, which ran along the oceanfront. As she has revealed in interviews, this was one of the most rewarding events of her career, since Chet has been one of Astrud's idols dating back to her teenage years.
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Her next albums were all chart-toppers and were released on a yearly schedule. After announcing, in 2002, that she was taking “indefinite time off” from public performances, she has spent much of her time campaigning against cruelty to animals. She came to regret signing a contract that paid a “slave salary.” She needed money to support her son Marcelo.
She immigrated to the United States in the early 1960s, where she resides since then.
Astrud was first introduced to the World at large in 1964 through "The Girl From Ipanema", the Grammy-winning recording with Stan Getz and her then-husband João Gilberto (the father of Bossa Nova). With this group format, she toured Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
It became a huge hit, reaching the number five spot on the pop singles chart and the top spot in the adult-contemporary category. It was a fashionable nightspot in Mayfair in which Princess Margaret and Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers, and Britt Ekland hung out – and a place where visiting American stars such as Mel Tormé sang.
Gilberto had always been into jazz – she grew up listening to Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, and Gerry Mulligan – and got one immediate boost in her post-Getz career with the chance to sing alongside trumpeter Baker (“an idol”) at a jazz club in San Francisco.
Her shows, from the beginning of her career up to her last public appearance (2001), have been usually sold out and at many venues she has broken the house record in attendance. Her music has become an interesting combination of the sensual rhythms of Brazil and American Pop and Jazz.
Born in the Northeast of Brazil, in the state of Bahia, one of three sisters of a German father and a Brazilian mother, Astrud grew up in Rio de Janeiro.