Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes dies at the age of 83 | Music

Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes, who introduced Bossa Nova to an international audience with his band Brasil ’66 in the 1960s, has died at the age of 83 from the effects of long-term Covid disease.

In a statement, Mendes’ family said he “passed away peacefully” in his hometown of Los Angeles. “His wife and musical partner of the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his beloved children. Mendes last performed to sold-out and enthusiastic crowds in Paris, London and Barcelona in November 2023,” they said. “In recent months, his health has been compromised by the effects of long Covid illness.”

Other Brazilian music greats paid tribute to their friend as news of his death spread in his native Brazil.

“Rest in peace, beloved genius,” legendary singer Milton Nascimento wrote on Instagram.

“There were so many years of friendship, partnership and music – and he will be with me forever, in my heart,” added Nascimento.

Singer-songwriter Marcos Valle remembered his friend Mendes as a pioneer of the bossa nova subgenre, samba jazz, in the 1960s. “He was an ambassador of popular Brazilian music in all its different dimensions,” Valle told television channel GloboNews.

Another celebrated Brazilian musician, João Bosco, said his country had lost not only a great musician, pianist and arranger, but also a great “thinker of Brazilian music”.

Bosco called Mendes’ 1962 record “Você Ainda Não Ouviu Nada!” (You haven’t heard anything yet!) a milestone in Brazilian instrumental music.

American musician Herb Alpert, who helped Mendes launch his international career, called Mendes his “brother from another country.”

“He was a true friend and an extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its variations to the world with elegance (and) joy,” Alpert wrote on Instagram, adding a photo showing the two together in the studio.

Born in Niterói on February 11, 1941, Mendes learned classical piano as a child. His father was a doctor and encouraged Mendes to follow in his footsteps, but he changed his mind when he saw Mendes’ growing interest and talent in jazz. “When he saw me playing and saw that I was successful in bands, he sat back and let me do my thing,” Mendes recalled in a 2005 interview.

Mendes began his musical career as a teenager in the late 1950s, when bossa nova was just becoming an international sensation, playing in nightclubs in Rio. Under the tutelage of bossa nova pioneer Antônio Carlos Jobim, Mendes formed the band Sexteto Bossa Rio and released his instrumental debut album, Dance Moderno, in 1961. Mendes became a sought-after collaborator for American musicians, including Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann, with whom he recorded in the early 1960s.

In 1964, Mendes moved to Los Angeles, signed with Capitol Records and formed the band Brasil ’65. After releasing two albums that sold poorly, the group hired two female singers, Lani Hall and Bibi Vogel, who sang in English, and renamed themselves Brasil ’66. The album, produced by Herb Alpert, went platinum, thanks in part to the success of the single Mas Que Nada, which he re-recorded with the Black Eyed Peas in 2006.

In 1968, Mendes reached a wider audience when he sang The Look of Love at the televised Academy Awards, and the Brasil ’66 version of the song entered the US Top 10. It made Mendes a star, performing for presidents and at the 1970 World’s Fair in Japan, and an international ambassador for bossa nova. “You can identify with it in an organic way,” he said of the genre in 2005. “It makes you dream and gives you good feelings. It’s very rhythmic, so you can dance to it, and it has haunting melodies that you take to bed with you, so you can hum and whistle them.”

Mendes continued to record music throughout the 1970s and ’80s, scoring another number 4 hit in 1983 with his adult contemporary version of the Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil song “Never Gonna Let You Go.” In 2006, Mendes released a comeback album, Timeless, produced by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. The album, which featured guest appearances from Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake, reflected the many underground rap records that had sampled Mendes’ music.

Mendes participated in producing the music for the animated films Rio and Rio 2 and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song for Real in Rio in 2012. He also won a Grammy for Best World Album Brasileiro in 1992. Mendes continued to perform until last year and his latest album In the Key of Joy was released in 2020.

He leaves behind his wife Leporace and five children.