RIO DE JANEIRO – Sergio Mendes, the celebrated Brazilian musician whose 1966 hit “Mas Que Nada” made him a world star and launched an extended, Grammy-winning profession, has died after months of battling the results of Long Covid. He was 83 years old.
The death of the Brazilian pianist, songwriter and arranger was confirmed in an announcement from his family on Thursday.
“His wife and musical partner of the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his beloved children,” the statement said on Friday. “Mendes last performed to sold-out and enthusiastic crowds in Paris, London and Barcelona in November 2023.”
Born in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro's twin city, Mendes studied classical music at a conservatory before joining jazz groups. In the late Fifties and early Nineteen Sixties, he began playing Bossa Nova when the genre was popular in Rio's nightclub scene with Antonio Carlos Jobim, João Gilberto and others.
In 1962 they traveled to New York for a Bossa Nova Festival at Carnegie Hall. During the trip, Cannonball Adderley invited Mendes to collaborate on the album “Cannonball Adderley and The Bossa Rio Sextet”. After signing with Atlantic Records, his first American record, “The Swinger from Rio”, was created.
Two years later, Mendes moved to California and formed Brazil '64, which evolved into Brazil '66 after he added two female singers. The group's debut album, produced by Herb Alpert, included “Mas Que Nada.” “Mas Que Nada” was a medium-tempo samba number sung entirely in Portuguese, originally released in 1963 by composer Jorge Ben Sor and updated three years later by Mendes, who had been playing the song in clubs and gave it a jazzier, harder edge.
“I started a band called Brasil '66,” he told The Guardian in 2019. “I've always had instrumental sections, but when I added the two singers – Lani Hall and Bibi Vogel – a different sound emerged. We recorded the song in Los Angeles, with me, drums, bass and guitar performing live.”
Mendes' version was a worldwide hit and helped proceed the Brazilian music boom of the Nineteen Sixties. In 2006, a contemporary version of the song performed by the Black Eyed Peas topped the US charts. It was included on his album “Timeless,” which was produced by will.i.am and likewise featured Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake and John Legend, amongst others.
“Sergio Mendes was my brother from another country,” trumpeter Alpert wrote on Facebook, posting a photograph from a long time ago of himself sitting next to Mendes on the piano. “He was a true friend and an extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its forms with elegance to the whole world.”
Mendes' other hits were an eclectic mix, starting from covers of the Beatles' “The Fool on the Hill” and “With a Little Help from My Friends” to his own Brazilian rendition of “Magalenha.” Mendes also composed the soundtrack for the film “Pelé” with saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and even produced an album recorded by the nice Brazilian footballer.
Mendes won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 1992 for “Brasileiro” and two Latin Grammy Awards. He also received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song in 2012 for “Real in Rio” from the animated film “Rio.”
Mendes' family said they’d announce details of the funeral and memorial service at a later date.
Originally published:
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