The first bossa nova song, titled “Bim-Bom”, was written as Gilberto watched passing laundresses on the banks of the São Francisco River balance loads of clothes on their heads. Next he spent eight months with his sister in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, where he sequestered himself and played day and night in a little bathroom (because of the improved acoustic), forging a personal style for voice and guitar that would come to be known as bossa nova. In this provincial town João Gilberto blossomed musically. Eventually, in 1955 he was rescued from this rut by Luiz Telles, leader of the vocal group Quitandinha Serenaders, who took him to Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. He rarely had any work, was dependent on his friends for living quarters, and fell into chronic depression. A year and a half later, he was dismissed from the group for his lack of discipline as he would often show up late to rehearsals or not at all.įor seven years, Gilberto’s career was at a low ebb. After trying his luck as a radio singer in Salvador, Bahia, the young Gilberto was recruited in 1950 as the lead singer of the vocal quintet Garotos da Lua (Moon Boys) and moved to Rio de Janeiro. Gilberto, who led the band, was influenced by Brazilian popular songs, American jazz, and even some opera, among other genres. During high school, Gilberto teamed up with some of his classmates to form a small band. His grandfather bought him his first guitar at the age of 14. While Antonio Carlos Jobim set the standard for the creation of bossa nova in the mid-’50s with songs like “The Girl From Ipanema” and “Desafinado”, it was Gilberto who brilliantly reimagined (and, arguably, defined) the genre.įrom an early age, music was a part of Gilberto’s life. Born in Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil, singer/song writer João Gilberto will always be the legend of bossa nova.
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