Sérgio Mendes Dies: Brazilian Pop Pioneer, Hitmaker & Herb Alpert Collaborator Was 83
Sérgio Mendes, the Brazilian composer, arranger and pianist whose melding of his native country’s traditional music with ’60s-vintage American pop, bossa nova, samba, funk and hints of cool jazz became one of the decade’s most beloved and popular sounds, died peacefully Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 83.
His death was announced by his family to the Guardian news organization. According to their statement, Mendes died following several months of ill health caused by the effects of long-term Covid. “His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his loving children,” reads the family statement.
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According to the family, Mendes last performed in November 2023 to sold-out “and wildly enthusiastic houses” in Paris, London and Barcelona.
One of Brazil’s most influential crossover artists beginning in the 1960s, Mendes — often in association with his friend and collaborator Herb Alpert — scored a string of lilting, jazzy, Burt Bacharach-style hits, most notably in his covers of Beatles songs “All My Loving,” “Day Tripper” and “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Perhaps most loved cover was “The Look of Love,” the Bacharach-Hal David song first made famous by Dusty Springfield for the James Bond spoof Casino Royale, scoring an Oscar nom for Best Song. Mendes & Brasil ’66 also recorded it and performed their version at the 1968 Academy Awards. The single reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 not long after.
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The group also hit the Top 10 with “Fool on the Hill” later that year and also in 1983 with “Never Gonna Let You Go.”
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A&M Records co-founder Alpert paid tribute to his old friend in an Instagram post today, writing: “Sérgio Mendes was my brother from another country passed away quietly and peacefully. He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance a joy.”
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In all, Mendes recorded more than 35 albums, many of which went gold or platinum. A three-time Grammy Award winner and Oscar nominee (for “Real in Rio,” the song he made with John Legend for the 2012 animated movie Rio), Mendes’ first showed his world-conquering sound with his band Brasil ’66 (later updated to Brasil ’77 and ’88).
Born Sérgio Santos Mendes on February 11, 1941, in Rio de Janeiro, Mendes got his musical start as a protege of Brazilian musical superstar Ant?nio Carlos Jobim before striking out on his own, eventually with his band Brasil ’66. The group’s first album on A&M Records, 1966’s Herb Alpert Presents Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66, went platinum largely based on the single “Mas que Nada.” The group toured with Alpert that year, cementing Mendes’ success.
Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.
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