Brazilian bossa nova and jazz legend Sérgio Mendes has died. TMZ reports that Mendes recently passed away in Los Angeles. No cause of death has been reported. He was 83.
Sérgio Mendes was born in Rio de Janeiro, where his father worked as a doctor. Mendes studied classical piano, but he quickly became more interested in jazz. He began his career as a teenager in the late ’50s, playing in Brazilian nightclubs just as bossa nova was starting to become an international sensation. Bossa nova pioneer Antônio Carlos Jobim was a mentor, and Mendes formed a band called Sexteto Bossa Rio and released his instrumental debut album Dance Moderno in 1961.
When American jazz musicians come to Brazil, they often played with Sérgio Mendes. Sometimes, they also recorded with him. In the early ’60s, Mendes played on bossa nova albums from American jazz greats Cannonball Adderly and Herbie Mann. In 1964, Mendes moved to the US, signed with Capitol, and formed his band Brasil ’65, which really hit its stride when it became Brasil ’66.
Herb Alpert signed Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66 to his A&M Records label, and their 1966 version of the Jorge Ben-written song “Mas Que Nada” became an international hit, driving the album Herb Alpert Presents Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66 to platinum sales. When Dusty Springfield’s version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David song “The Look Of Love” was nominated for an Oscar, Mendes and his band covered the song on the Oscar telecast, and their version became a #4 hit on the Hot 100. Mendes also had a top-10 hit with his cover of the Beatles’ “The Fool On The Hill.” In the wake of all that success, Mendes toured the world and performed at the White House for presidents Johnson and Nixon.
Mendes continued to record through the ’70s and ’80s, and he had another #4 hit with his adult contemporary take on the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil song “Never Gonna Let You Go” in 1983. In 2006, Mendes released the will.i.am-produced comeback album Timeless, which had guest appearances from people like Erykah Badu, Q-Tip, Common, Stevie Wonder, and Justin Timberlake. This was a logical progression from the dozens of underground rap records that sampled Mendes’ music. Mendes helped produce the music for the animated films Rio and Rio 2, and he won an Oscar in 2012 for co-writing the Rio song “Real In Rio.” His most recent album In The Key Of Joy came out in 2020, and he kept performing live until last year. Check out some of his work below.
