Brazilian bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto, who helped spread the musical genre worldwide, died yesterday at the age of 83, mainly through her interpretation of the famous “Girl from Ipanema”.

Astrud was born in 1940 in the Brazilian state of Bahia and grew up in Rio de Janeiro. In 1959 she married João Gilberto.

In 1963, at the age of just 23, Astrud accompanied her guitarist husband to New York, where he was to collaborate with jazz legend Stan Gage. Her role was that of… an interpreter. However, when the time came for the English-language “Girl From Ipanema”, she was the only one present who spoke the language, and producer Creed Taylor wasted no time. The slightly aloof, but sweet, exotic performance of the amateur singer was a wild success, he climbed to the top of the music charts and received a Grammy Award.

Around the same time, she broke up with João and embarked on a tour of the United States with Getz and his band, virtually alone and already having a child, a time she described as very difficult.

“She was an important part of everything Brazilian music represents to the world and has changed many lives with her energy,” Gilberto partner Paul Ritchie said on social media announcing the news of her death.

Listening to this work today, one can feel the atmosphere of the sidewalk of the beach in Ipanima, Brazil, where the girl, “tall, tanned, young and beautiful” – as the text says – walks with her feet barely touching the ground and making all heads turn. As for Gilberto, she may never repeat that initial success, but she has established herself in the Brazilian bossa nova tradition as one of its leading exponents.