Sergio MendesThe Brazilian singer, composer, bandleader and keyboardist who became an international sensation after moving to the US in the 1960s died in Los Angeles on September 5. challenged by the long-term effects of COVID.” Mendes was 83 years old.
Born in the Brazilian city of Niteroi in the early 1940s, a young Mendes studied piano at the local conservatory before playing in nightclubs and touring Brazil in various bands. He released his debut album, Modern danceas the bossa nova movement gained momentum in 1961. Tours of North America and Europe led to collaborations with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann, after which he moved to the United States, where he formed Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’65. Despite continued success in South America, the first two bossa nova albums sold poorly in North America, and on the advice of producer Richard Adler, Mendes added two American singers and sang some songs in English. However, it was the landmark Portuguese-language single “Mas Que Nada,” written by samba legend Jorge Ben, that brought Mendes and the group, then called Brasil ’66 and soon after Brasil ’77, their breakthrough in the US.
In a previously skeptical industry, “Mas Que Nada” and a mother album Herb Alpert presents Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’66 Mendes lent it in 1968 when he performed a cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “The Look of Love” at the Academy Awards. The band played bigger and bigger shows as well as showcases for presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, plus one at the 1970 Olympics, which added rock to live music driven by his frenetic keyboard work and raucous drums.
The movement slowed, but Mendes continued to explore modern and traditional styles in the following decades, including the Bahian-influenced 1992 brazilian— Winner of the 1993 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, and the 2010 Modernized Album of Brazilian Classics Bom Tempo:. He co-produced the 1983 James Bond theme song “Never Say Never Again” with Brazilian vocalist Lani Hall and collaborated with superstars including Stevie Wonder, Milton Nascimento and Seu Jorge. He has also worked with contemporary artists such as John Legend, on the Oscar-nominated Real in Rio and the Black Eyed Peas. “Mas Que Nada” remix. Will.i.am produced the mother album of that incredible collaboration, Untimelyon which Mendes performed alongside Ayrka Badu, Jill Scott, Justin Timberlake and many others. He released his latest album, The key to happinessIn 2019, in conjunction with a documentary about his life.