João Gilberto
| João Gilberto | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira |
| Born |
June 10, 1931 Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil |
| Genres | Bossa nova, samba, Latin jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, singer |
| Years active | 1950–present |
João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto (Portuguese: [ˈʒoɐ̃w ʒiwˈbɛʁtu]; June 10, 1931), is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His recordings, including many songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, established the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s.
João Gilberto was born in Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil. From an early age, music was a part of Gilberto's life. His grandfather bought him his first guitar at the age of 14. During high school, Gilberto teamed up with some of his classmates to form a small band. Gilberto, who led the band, was influenced by Brazilian popular songs, American jazz, and even some opera, among other genres. After trying his luck as a radio singer in Salvador, the young Gilberto was recruited in 1950 as lead singer of the vocal quintet Garotos da Lua (Moon Boys) and moved to Rio de Janeiro. A year and a half later, he was dismissed from the group for his lack of discipline (he would often show up late to rehearsals or not at all).
João Gilberto's first recordings were released in Brazil as two-song 78-rpm singles between 1951 and 1959. In the 1960s, Brazilian singles evolved to the "double compact" format, and João would release some EPs in this new format, which carried 4 songs on a 45-rpm record.
For seven years, Gilberto's career was at a low ebb. He rarely had any work, was dependent on his friends for living quarters, and fell into chronic depression. 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. In this provincial town João Gilberto blossomed musically. 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. 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.
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