{"id":2446066,"date":"2019-07-07T07:56:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-07T13:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=856164"},"modified":"2019-07-07T07:56:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-07T13:56:10","slug":"joao-gilberto-brazilian-musician-and-bossa-nova-pioneer-dead-at-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/joao-gilberto-brazilian-musician-and-bossa-nova-pioneer-dead-at-88\/","title":{"rendered":"Joao Gilberto, Brazilian Musician and Bossa Nova Pioneer, Dead at 88"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jo\u00e3o Gilberto, the pioneering Brazilian musician and composer credited as \u201cthe father of bossa nova,\u201d has died at the age of 88.<\/p>\n

Gilberto\u2019s son Jo\u00e3o Marcelo Gilberto confirmed his father\u2019s death in Rio de Janeiro in a Facebook post Saturday, \u201cHis struggle was noble. He tried to maintain his dignity in the light of losing his independence.\u201d No cause of death was provided.<\/p>\n

Gilberto is considered the progenitor of bossa nova, or \u201cnew beat,\u201d a subgenre of the Brazilian samba that scaled back that style\u2019s percussion and arrangements. According to NPR<\/a>, Gilberto developed the sound while ensconced in a bathroom at his sister\u2019s house, crafting bossa nova by playing off the bathroom\u2019s tiled acoustics. Soon after in his native Brazil, Gilberto scored a huge hit in 1959 with a cover of \u201cChega de Saudade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilberto\u2019s bossa nova began to reach American audiences thanks to its appearance on the soundtrack for the 1959 film Black Orpheus<\/em>, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film that year. Stan Getz and guitarist Charlie Byrd\u2019s chart-topping bossa nova-inspired Jazz Samba<\/em> was released in 1962; the following year, Gilberto moved to the United States and, soon after, the guitarist collaborated with Getz on what would become Gilberto\u2019s most acclaimed and popular album.<\/p>\n

Released in 1964, Getz\/Gilberto<\/em> would go on to win Album of the Year at the 1965 Grammys, the first non-English LP and the first jazz LP to capture that award. The multiplatinum-selling album also boasted the Record of the Year-winning hit \u201cThe Girl From Ipanema,\u201d a duet between Gilberto and his then-wife Astrud Gilberto. In 2012, the Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a> called \u201cThe Girl From Ipanema\u201d the second-most popular song ever recorded, behind the Beatles\u2019 \u201cYesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n