Legendary Brazilian jazz musician Sérgio Mendes has died, Stereogum reports. Mendes passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 83; no cause of death has been recorded.
Sérgio Mendes was born in 1941 in Rio de Janeiro, where his father worked as a physician. Mendes studied classical music growing up, but became quickly enamored with jazz. His career began in the late 1950s when he was still a teenager; he played in nightclubs as bossa nova music was becoming an international phenomenon. One of Mendes’s mentors was bossa nova pioneer Antônio Carlos Jobim; with his guidance, Mendes released his debut instrumental album Dance Moderno in 1961.
Many American jazz musicians worked with Mendes when visiting Brazil; some artists recorded with him as well. In the early 1960s, Mendes was featured on bossa nova albums from fellow jazz musicians Cannonball Adderly and Herbie Mann. In 1964, when Mendes emigrated from Brazil to the United States, he signed with Capitol and formed his band Brasil ‘65, which became much more notable when becoming Brasil ‘66.
Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ‘66 signed to Herb Alpert’s A&M Records label, where their 1966 version of Jorge Ben’s “Mas Que Nada” became an international hit, resulting in Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66 becoming a platinum record. When Dusty Springfield’s rendition of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “The Look Of Love” was nominated for an Oscar, Mendes and his band covered the song during the Oscars telecast, and their version became a #4 hit on the Hot 100. Mendes’s cover of the Beatles’ “The Fool On The Hill” also became a top-10 hit. On top of the many acclaims of his career, Mendes also toured the world and performed at the White House for Presidents Johnson and Nixon.
Mendes continued to record throughout the 1970s and 80s, but he became a household name once more with his adult contemporary rendition of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil’s “Never Gonna Let You Go” in 1983. Mendes released the will.i.am-produced comeback album Timeless in 2006, whose tracks featured artists such as Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Common, Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake. Mendes helped produce the music for the animated films Rio and Rio 2 as well, which led to his winning of an Oscar in 2012 for the Rio track “Real In Rio.”
Mendes’s most recent album, In The Key Of Joy, was released in 2020, and Mendes continued to perform live until last year.
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