Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian singer, songwriter, bandleader and keyboardist who became an international sensation after moving to the United States in the 1960s, died in Los Angeles on September 5. According to a statement from the Mendes family, the musician's “health had been challenged by the effects of long-term COVID.” Mendes was 83 years old.
Born in the Brazilian city of Niterói in the early 1940s, a young Mendes studied piano at a local conservatory before playing in nightclubs and touring Brazil in various bands. His debut album was released, Modern danceas the bossa nova movement gained momentum in 1961. North American and European tours led to collaborations with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann, followed by a move 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 gave Mendes and the band – then called Brasil '66 and soon jumping to Brasil '77 – their breakthrough in the USA.
In a previously skeptical industry, “Mas Que Nada” and the parent album Herb Alpert Presents: Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 she loaned Mendes a bag that was completed in 1968 when she performed her cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's “The Look of Love” at the Academy Awards. The band played bigger and bigger shows—including showcases for Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, plus one at the 1970 Olympics—that added rock gravitas to a live setup fueled by his frenetic keyboard work and noisemakers. crust.
The momentum slowed, but Mendes continued to explore modern and traditional styles in the following decades, including the Bahian-influenced 1992 album Brasileiro—winner of the 1993 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album—and the 2010 Album of Modernized Brazilian Classics Bom Tempo. Co-produced the 1983 James Bond 'Never Say Never Again' by Brasil '66 singer Lani Hall, and worked with superstars such as Stevie Wonder, Milton Nascimento and Seu Jorge. He also worked with contemporary artists such as John Legend on the Oscar-nominated “Real in Rio” and the Black Eyed Peas on a “Mas Que Nada” remix. Will.i.am produced the parent album of this unlikely collaboration, Eternalin which Mendes starred alongside Eyrkah Badu, Jill Scott, Justin Timberlake and many others. He released his latest album, In the Key of Joyin 2019, in conjunction with a documentary about his life.
