Joao Gilberto, the legendary Brazilian musician and songwriter who pioneered the lilting, melodious music known as bossa nova, has died, his son Joao Marcelo announced Saturday. The legend was 88. The cause of death was not immediately known. "My father has passed," the son, who lives in the United States, wrote on Facebook. "His fight was noble, he tried to maintain his dignity." Gilberto, a small-town boy from Bahia state whose soft voice singing "The Girl From Ipanema" in the 1960s made him world famous, was living alone in a borrowed house in Rio de Janeiro at the end, deeply in debt.
He fell in love with music when he got his first guitar at the age of 14. After leaving his village, he made it onto local radio in Salvador de Bahia, and at age 19, arrived in Rio. In 1957, he made a name for himself as guitarist on a recording by Elizeth Cardoso, "Cancao do Amor Demais," considered the first bossa nova album. Later, known both for his smooth voice and his guitar style, Gilberto brought the sounds of bossa nova - meaning "new trend" or "new wave" - to jazz festivals and concert halls around the world, putting Brazilian music on the map. For most Brazilians, the last glimpse of the music legend was a video in 2015 where he appeared in his customary pajamas and looking weak, playing "Girl from Ipanema" with his daughter Lulu, aged nine at the time.
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