'This Song Is Going to Make You Famous'

Brazil's Astrud Gilberto had a long and successful recording career, but her very first song was her biggest: "The Girl From Ipanema." The singer died Monday at the age of 83, reports the AP. The surprise 1964 hit made Gilberto an overnight star and helped popularize bossa nova in the US. She recorded it on the album Getz/Gilberto, a collaboration between jazz great Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto's then-more-famous husband, Joao Gilberto. As the New York Times recounts, Astrud Gilberto said years later that her husband "casually" suggested she try singing the song, and she knew just enough English to do so.

“Stan was very receptive," she recalled in a 2002 interview. "I’ll never forget that while we were listening back to the just recorded version, Stan said to me, ‘This song is going to make you famous.'" No cause of death was specified. The BBC notes that Astrud's granddaughter, Sofia Gilberto, broke the news on Instagram. "She was a pioneer and the best," the post reads. "At the age of 22, she gave voice to the English version of Girl from Ipanema and gained international fame." (More obituary stories.)