The Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes, who brought bossa nova to an international audience in the 1960s with his band Brasil ‘66, has died aged 83 as a result of health challenges related to long-term Covid.
In a statement, Mendes’s family said that he “passed away peacefully” in his hometown of Los Angeles. “His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his loving children. Mendes last performed in November 2023 to sold out and wildly enthusiastic houses in Paris, London and Barcelona,” they said. “For the last several months, his health had been challenged by the effects of long term Covid.”
Mendes was born in Niterói on 11 February 1941 and studied classical piano as a child. His burgeoning love of jazz saw him began playing in nightclubs in the 1950s, in parallel with the emergence of bossa nova. He would record with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann in the 1960s, the decade he moved to the US.
After releasing two albums as Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ‘65 that met with low sales, the group recruited two American singers, Lani Hall and Bibi Vogel, to sing in English, and renamed themselves Brasil ‘66. Produced by Herb Alpert, the album went platinum thanks in part to the success of single Mas que Nada, which he would re-record in 2006 with the Black Eyed Peas.
In 1968, Mendes reached a wider audience when he performed The Look of Love on the televised Academy Awards broadcast, and Brasil ‘66’s version of the song hit the US Top 10. It made Mendes a star who would perform for presidents and at the Japan World Expo in 1970.
Mendes is survived by his wife, Leporace, and five children.
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