Sergio Mendes died peacefully Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his wife and children, his family said in a statement.
In recent months, his health had been affected by the effects of prolonged Covidshe added.
Mendes has recorded more than 35 albums and toured with major American artists such as Frank Sinatra.
In 1966 he had achieved international success with his album Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66 and the famous But Nothingadaptation of a song by Brazilian artist Jorge Ben.
And in 1993, he won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Brazilianwhich features several tracks by Brazilian singer and percussionist Carlinhos Brown.
Rest in peace, dear geniuswrote on Instagram Milton Nascimento, icon of Brazilian popular music and one of the first celebrities to react to Mendes’ death, saluting many years of friendship, collaborations and music.
At this time of sadness, my thoughts are with the family, friends and fans of Sergio Mendes.reacted Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, according to whom he was one of the greatest representatives and promoters of (Brazilian) music and culture throughout the world.
Brazilian composer and former Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil paid tribute on Instagram to an icon of Brazilian musicwhile Black Eyed Peas singer and rapper Will.i.am posted a photo of himself and Mendes accompanied by the text An eternal friendshipThe American group had remixed their song But Nothing in 2006.
– Brazilian roots –
Launched on the Brazilian scene in the early 1960s, at the height of the bossa nova wave, Sergio Mendes quickly rose to fame. His talents as a pianist and composer of arrangements attracted the interest of Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes performs at a concert in Glendale, California, on August 4, 2011.
His mastery of jazz impressed and the American saxophonist Cannonball Adderley chose his group, Rio Sextetto save the album Cannonball’s Bossa Nova in 1963.
Throughout his career, Mendes has continued to exploit the inexhaustible vein of captivating music, in which he skillfully mixed the cadence of samba, the groove of jazz, the subtle vocal harmonies of bossa nova and the refinement of Californian pop.
But behind the famous musician and the commercial aspect of his songs, sometimes on the edge ofeasy listeninghides an artist endowed with great spontaneity.
I am very curious, I like to learnconfided Sergio Mendes during an interview with AFP in Paris in 2014.
The roots of my music are Brazilian. In Brazil we have a beautiful cultural and musical diversity, between the music of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, classical music, African rhythmsrecalled the one who had been nominated for an Oscar in 2012 in the category of Best Original Song for Real in Riomusic from the animated film Rio.
