Sérgio Mendes, who has died aged 83 after suffering from the effects of long Covid, was one of the most successful Brazilian artists of all time. A pianist, songwriter, arranger and bandleader, he enjoyed a lengthy career that began in the bossa nova boom of the early 1960s and continued for six decades – long after the bossa craze was over.
His success was based on his skill in matching Brazilian songs and rhythms against different western styles, from jazz and rock to funk and hip hop. In the 60s he recorded with the American jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and then notched up hits with covers of songs by the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel.
In 1971 he played at the White House for President Richard Nixon; and in 1982 was back to play for Ronald Reagan. In the 90s he became a hero for the easy-listening market, and in 2006 he won over a new audience when he collaborated with will.i.am and other members of the American rap group Black Eyed Peas.
Unlike João Gilberto or Antōnio Carlos (Tom) Jobim, Mendes was not one of the original creators of the bossa style when this romantic, reflective fusion of Brazilian samba-cancão, western classical influences and American “cool jazz” first emerged in Rio de Janeiro in the late 50s, but he rapidly became one of its finest exponents, with encouragement from Jobim.
When the American jazz stars Charlie Byrd and Herbie Mann visited Rio in 1961 to check out this new music, Mendes was one of those with whom they played. And when Brazil’s bossa heroes were invited to Carnegie Hall, New York, in November 1962 to collaborate with Byrd and other American jazz musicians, Mendes was included.
The visit transformed his career. While in New York, he met Adderley, who invited Mendes to record with him, and he also met Nesuhi Ertegun, the president of Atlantic Records, who signed him up and would release his album The Swinger from Rio. In 1964, Mendes decided to move to the US, but chose California rather than New York. The first two albums he recorded there were unsuccessful, but he then changed labels and styles with dramatic results.
He met the trumpeter Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the founders of A&M records, and signed to their label. And he hit on the formula that would make him a superstar.
He recruited two female singers, Lani Hall and Bibi Vogel, for a band he named Brasil ’66. Produced by Alpert, their album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 (1966) was a massive hit.
It included Brazilian-influenced covers of western pop songs including the Beatles’ Day Tripper, with lyrics in English, but was most remarkable for the reworking of the Jorge Ben classic Mas Que Nada, sung in the original Portuguese. The album reached the US Top Ten, and Mas Que Nada reached No 5 in the singles charts – the first song in Portuguese to do so.
Always retaining his “trademark sound” of two girls singing together in the band, he notched up a further string of hits with Brazilian-influenced covers, including the Beatles’ Fool on the Hill, Simon and Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair and Dusty Springfield’s The Look of Love. In 1967 he toured for the first time with Frank Sinatra, and in 1968 played his first concerts in Japan, where he became extremely popular, returning over 30 times.
His career dipped in the 70s, but he kept touring and recording – he would release more than 40 albums during his career. In 1980 Sinatra invited him for a second major tour, which included a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and three years later he notched up another hit with Never Gonna Let You Go.
In 1992 he was awarded a World Music Grammy for his album Brasileiro, while in 2006 came a startling change of direction with the album Timeless. Produced by will.i.am, it featured appearances from stars including Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake, and opened with the Black Eyed Peas’ hip-hop treatment of Mas Que Nada. A huge hit in Europe, it reached No 1 in Hungary and the Netherlands and No 2 in the UK Hip Hop/R&B charts.
Following its release, Mendes played a show at the Barbican in London, at which he switched from his 60s hits to breezy easy listening, and he ended by performing the hip hop version of Mas Que Nada twice. His wife, Gracinha Leporace, was one of the two female singers.
In 2012 he was nominated for an Oscar for his song Real in Rio from the animated film Rio, and in 2014 he again acted as producer, composer, arranger and performer for the follow-up, Rio 2. In 2015 he played to more than 100,000 fans at Rock In Rio, and in 2020 released the album In the Key of Joy.
A 2021 documentary about his life, Sergio Mendes: In the Key of Joy, included contributions from Alpert, Harrison Ford, Pelé and will.i.am. Mendes last performed in November last year, when his European tour included a return to the Barbican.
Mendes was born in Niterói, in Rio de Janeiro State. He said: “My father was black, my mother’s side was Portuguese.” As a child he had to wear a cast for three years as he was suffering from osteomyelitis, but “my father was a doctor, so we were able to get penicillin, and that saved my leg”. He found “a new life” when his mother gave him a piano, and he studied classical styles at the Niterói music conservatory.
He became fascinated by jazz after first hearing Dave Brubeck at the age of 15, and began playing at tea dances and parties before becoming a key figure in the bossa scene, performing at the Bottles club in Copacabana, where he met Jobim and Gilberto.
He formed the Bossa Rio Sextet, with whom he recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. The band played around Brazil and were hired by a textile company as the opening act for fashion shows in Europe, the Middle East and Japan. Then came the invitation to join the bossa elite at Carnegie Hall, and he went on to change the face of Brazilian music.
He is survived by Gracinha, his wife of more than 50 years, and their two children, Tiago and Gustavo; by three children, Bernardo, Rodrigo and Isabella, from an earlier marriage that ended in divorce: and by seven grandchildren.
• Sérgio Mendes, musician, composer and bandleader, born 11 February 1941; died 6 September 2024
