Brazilian musician and Oscar nominee Sérgio Mendes dies at 83 from effects of long COVID

He helped popularize bossa nova music starting in the ’60s, especially with hit single 'Mas Que Nada.'

Sérgio Mendes, the Brazilian musician renowned for bringing bossa nova music to a global audience starting in the ’60s, has died. He was 83. The news was announced in a statement by his family, who cited the long-term effects of COVID-19 as his cause of death.

“His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his loving children,” the family's statement read. “Mendes last performed in November 2023 to sold out and wildly enthusiastic houses in Paris, London, and Barcelona. For the last several months, his health had been challenged by the effects of long-term Covid.”

Born on Feb. 11, 1941, in Niterói, Brazil, Mendes trained from a young age to become a classical pianist, but soon fell in love with jazz music and began performing it. In 1962 he traveled to the United States for the first time to take part in a bossa nova festival at Carnegie Hall in New York, but his American residence became more permanent following the 1964 military coup in Brazil.

Based in Los Angeles, his first band, Brasil '65, met with only moderate success. After Mendes recruited two female singers (Lani Hall and Bibi Vogel) and renamed the group Brasil '66, they were much more popular. In particular, their 1966 single "Mas Que Nada" helped their album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 (produced by the eponymous trumpeter) go platinum.

"Mas Que Nada" remained so popular over the years that Mendes even recorded a new version with the Black Eyed Peas in 2006. His band had other successes in the ’60s, including a cover of the Beatles' "The Fool on the Hill" in 1968 and a performance of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “The Look of Love” on the Oscars broadcast that same year.

Mendes was himself nominated for Best Original Song for "Real in Rio" from the 2011 animated film Rio. He also won a Grammy in the Best World Music Album category for his 1993 Brasileiro, and won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Grammys in 2005.

"Sérgio Mendes was my brother from another country," Alpert wrote on Instagram, alongside a black-and-white photo of himself and Mendes at the piano years ago. "He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance and joy."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.