Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian-born pianist, composer and arranger who brought bossa nova music to a global audience in the 1960s through his ensemble, Brasil ’66, and remained a force in popular music for more than six decades, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 83.
The cause of his death, in a hospital, was long Covid, his family said.
Mr. Mendes released nearly 35 albums, won three Grammys and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for best original song (as co-writer of “Real in Rio,” from the animated film “Rio”).
His career in America took flight in 1966 with Brasil ’66 and the single “Mas Que Nada,” written by the Brazilian singer-songwriter Jorge Ben. The Mendes sound was deceptively sophisticated rhythmically but gentle on the ears, suavely amplifying the original guitar-centered murmur of bossa nova with expansive keyboard-driven arrangements and cooing vocal lines that usually included Mr. Mendes himself chiming in alongside a front line of two female singers.
The group’s lilting, sensual pulse came to embody an adult contemporary cool in the 1960s that contrasted pointedly with the ascendant youth culture that came to dominate the pop charts in the wake of the Beatles.
“It was completely different from anything, and definitely completely different from rock ’n’ roll,” the Latin music scholar Leila Cobo observed in the 2020 HBO documentary “Sergio Mendes in the Key of Joy.” “But that speaks to how certain Sergio was of that sound. He didn’t try to imitate what was going on.”
After venturing to the United States for the first time in 1962 to perform at a bossa nova concert at Carnegie Hall on a bill with many of the music’s innovators — including his mentor, the composer Antonio Carlos Jobim — Mr. Mendes ultimately returned to Brazil, only to flee in 1964 in the wake of a violent military coup that briefly included his own arrest. He recorded and toured America with a new ensemble, but he was generating only tepid audience response when the other members of his band decided to head home to Brazil. Mr. Mendes stayed behind; he wanted to try one more time for American success.
He is survived by his wife, Gracinha Leporace; their two children, Tiago and Gustavo; three children from his first marriage, which ended in divorce, Bernardo, Rodrigo and Isabella; and seven grandchildren.
A complete obituary will appear soon.
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