João Gilberto  

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João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto (10 June 1931 – 6 July 2019), was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He pioneered the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s, as such, he is sometimes known as the "father of bossa nova".

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Biography

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Early life

João Gilberto was born in Juazeiro, Bahia, the son of Joviniano Domingos de Oliveira, a wealthy merchant, and Martinha do Prado Pereira de Oliveira. He lived in his native city until 1942, when he began to study in Aracaju, Sergipe, returning to Juazeiro in 1946. At the age of 14, he got his first guitar, given by his father. Still, in Juazeiro, he formed his first band, called "Enamorados do Ritmo". He moved to Salvador, Bahia, in 1947. During his three years in the city, he dropped out of his studies to dedicate himself exclusively to music and at the age of 18 began his artistic career as a crooner at the Rádio Sociedade da Bahia.

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Career

Gilberto's first recordings were released in Brazil as two-song 78-rpm singles between 1951 and 1959. In the 1960s Brazilian singles evolved to the "double compact" format, and João would release some EPs in this new format, which carried four songs on a 45-rpm record.

Soon afterward, Gilberto's father, upset by his son's bizarre singing style and refusal to take 'normal' work, had him committed to a mental hospital. In a psychological interview there, Gilberto stared out of the window and remarked "Look at the wind depilating the trees." The psychologist replied "but trees have no hair, João", to which Gilberto responded: "and there are people who have no poetry." He was released after a week. The next year (1956), he returned to Rio and struck up old acquaintances, most significantly with Antônio Carlos Jobim, who was by then working as a composer, producer, and arranger with Odeon Records. Jobim was impressed with Gilberto's new style of guitar playing and set about finding a suitable song to pitch the style to Odeon management.

Gilberto was known for his demanding acoustic and noise-control standards. During a recording session of the song "Rosa Morena", he insisted on 28 takes to get the pronunciation of the o in "Rosa" just right. Nonetheless, despite his high acoustic standards, he skipped a contractually required sound check prior to a July 2003 performance at the Hollywood Bowl, in Los Angeles. This negligence (and the ensuing sound fiasco) prompted the audience to stream from the venue before the concert ended.

In 1997, Gilberto sued record label EMI over their reissue of several of his early works, which he contended had been poorly remastered. According to The New York Times, "A statement by his lawyer at the time declared that the reissues contained sound effects that 'did not pertain to the original recordings, banalizing the work of a great artist." Following the incident, EMI ceased production of the albums in question, and, as of 2008, the lawsuit was yet to reach a decision.

In 2000, Gilberto won the nomination for the Best World Music Album category in the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards for his work in the album João Voz E Violão.

In 2011, he was sued and evicted from an apartment in Leblon by his landlord, Countess Georgina Brandolini d'Adda.

On 17 May 2017, Gilberto received an honorary doctorate in music from Columbia University but did not attend the commencement ceremony.

It was reported in December 2017 that Bebel Gilberto (Isabel), João's daughter through his marriage to Miúcha, was seeking control of his financial affairs because of his declining mental state and heavy indebtedness.

João Gilberto died on 6 July 2019, in Rio de Janeiro.

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Discography

– João Gilberto's first five records released from 1951-1958 were all 78 rpm single editions.

– The album João Gilberto released in 1970 is the same version as João Gilberto en México in the same year but by different record companies.

– Live in Montreux from 1987 is the same version as the one released in 1986. The version in 1986 was released in Brasil whereas the 1987 one was released in USA. Both were recorded live.

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Selected compositions

  • "Bim bom" (generally considered as the first bossa nova song)
  • "Hô-bá-lá-lá"
  • "Um Abraço no Bonfá"
  • "Undiú"
  • "Valsa (Bebel) (Como são lindos os Youguis)"
  • "Você esteve com meu bem?"


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "João Gilberto" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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