Astrud Gilberto was born Astrud Evangelina Weinert – to a Brazilian mother and a German father – in Brazil in March 1940. She was raised in Rio de Janeiro, where her father was a language professor.
She married João Gilberto in 1959 and had a son, João Marcelo Gilberto, who later joined her band. Astrud and João divorced in the mid-1960s. She later began a relationship with American jazz saxophone player Stan Getz and immigrated to the US in 1963.
Astrud sang on two tracks on the 1963 album Getz/Gilberto. Her “beguiling, whispery voice” played a significant role in popularising The Girl from Ipanema, earning a Grammy Award for Song of the Year and a nomination for Best Vocal Performance by a female. The single sold over five million copies and popularised bossa nova music around the world.
In 1964, Gilberto appeared in the films Get Yourself a College Girl and The Hanged Man and her first solo album – The Astrud Gilberto Album – was released in 1965.
From 1965 to 1971, she made eight solo albums, including The Shadow of Your Smile, Look to the Rainbow, Beach Samba, A Certain Smile, a Certain Sadness, Windy, and I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do.
Gilberto did not record again until the 1987 album Astrud Gilberto Plus James Last Orchestra. Although she found the bandleader difficult, the record impressed George Michael, who loved her singing. The Wham! superstar eventually asked her to perform on a charity record for Aids research.
In 1996, the pair recorded a lovely version of Desafinado for his Red Hot + Rio album.
In 2002 (the year she was admitted to the International Latin Music Hall of Fame), Gilberto announced she was taking “indefinite time off” from public performances. She remained in Philadelphia, living in privacy and isolation.
In retirement, she grew interested in philosophy, painting and campaigning against cruelty to animals, insisting that she did not miss the “stage fright” and her ill-treatment by record companies.
Astrud Gilberto died at home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 5 June 2023, aged 83.
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In 1964, Gilberto appeared in the films Get Yourself a College Girl and The Hanged Man and her first solo album – The Astrud Gilberto Album – was released in 1965.
