Bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto, best known for the song “The Girl from Ipanema”, has died at the age of 83.

Her version of “Garota de Ipanema”, originally written in 1962 by Antonio Carlos Zobim and Vinicius de Moraes, was recorded by her in English as “The Girl from Ipanema” on March 18, 1963. The song became a worldwide hit. sold over five million copies worldwide and raised the profile of bossa nova music internationally.

Paul Ritchie, a New York-based guitarist who collaborated with Astrud Gilberto, confirmed the news of her death in a Facebook post. “I just learned from her son Marcelo that we have lost Astrud Gilberta,” she wrote. “She was an important part of Brazilian music in the world and changed many lives with her energy. RIP from “boss” as he called me. Thanks AG.”

Posted on Instagram, Gilberto’s granddaughter Sofia also shared the news with her followers.

“This song for me, Linda Sofia, was written by my grandmother Astrud Gilberto. She wanted me to be called Linda Sophia, she said. Life is beautiful as the song says, but I’m here to tell you the sad news that my grandmother became a star today and is next to my grandfather Joao Gilberto,” he wrote.

“Astrud was a real girl who gave the world bossa nova from Ipanema,” he said. “She was a pioneer and the best. At 22, she voiced the English version of The Girl from Ipanema and gained international fame,” he added.

Gilberto, born March 29, 1940, was not actually from Ipanema. He was born in Salvador, Bahia, in the northeast of Brazil, to a Brazilian mother and an immigrant father from a German professor. They named their daughter Atruda in honor of the goddess from the homeland of Fritz. Fritz Weinert taught languages ​​and Astrud grew up fluent in Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and English.

“As a teenager, I was part of a group of young people who were into music.” This is how he met Joao Gilberto, who invented bossa nova. “We were married and I sang with him at home and we did some shows in college,” she said in an interview.

Astrud Gilberto’s life changed forever in March 1963 when she accompanied Joao Gilberto to A&R Studios in Manhattan when he recorded the Getz/Gilberto album with famed jazz saxophonist Stan Getz. They were about to record one of the best selling jazz albums of all time, a record that attracted millions of people to Brazilian jazz and rhythms.

Getz/Gilberto remained on the top album charts for 96 weeks and won Grammy Awards in 1965 for Album of the Year, Best Instrumental Jazz Album, and others.

The Girl from Ipanema also won a Grammy for Record of the Year.

Gilberto took part in the Getz tours and they later parted ways. As he said, “he never looked back.” Her first solo concert with her own group took place in London in 1965 at the new club The Cool Elephant. It was a trendy Mayfair nightclub frequented by Princess Margaret and Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers and Britt Ackland.

One of the most popular recordings of her career was with pop star George Michael, who admired her album with Last. Her friend said that Michael was impressed by her songs, but at the time he didn’t know anything about the former Wham! She sent a Western Union telegram to George Michael and he went to hear her sing at Madison Square Garden in New York. In 1996, they reunited when George Michael asked her to sing on a benefit album for AIDS research. They recorded a great version of “Desafinado” in London.