Remembering Sergio Mendes
• Legendary Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes, who brought bossa nova to an international audience in the 1960s with his band Brasil ’66, has died at the age of 83, the result of health challenges related to long-term Covid, as initially reported by The Guardian. Mendes, a three-time Grammy® Award winner and Oscar® nominee, leaves us all with an incredible musical legacy spanning more than six decades.
In a statement, Mendes’ family said that he “passed away peacefully” on Thursday, Sept. 5 in Los Angeles. “His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes (pictured, left) 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, Brazil on February 11, 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 (who later married Lani Hall), 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 an Instagram post, Alpert (left) called Mendes “my brother from another country. He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance [and] joy.” Mendes is survived by his wife and five children.
