João Gilberto was born in Juazeiro, Bahia, the son of wealthy merchant Joviniano Domingos de Oliveira and Martinha do Prado Pereira de Oliveira. He lived in his hometown until 1942, when he moved to Aracaju, Sergipe, to study before returning to Juazeiro in 1946. Gilberto received his first guitar from his grandfather at the age of 14, despite his father’s disapproval.
He formed his first band, “Enamorados do Ritmo,” while still in Juazeiro. In 1947, Gilberto relocated to Salvador, Bahia. During his three years in the city, he dropped out of school to focus solely on music, and at the age of 18, he began his artistic career as a crooner at Rádio Sociedade da Bahia.
Between 1951 and 1959, Gilberto’s first recordings were released in Brazil as two-song 78-rpm singles. Brazilian singles evolved to the “double compact” format in the 1960s, and Gilberto released some EPs in this new format, which carried four songs on a 45-rpm record.
In 1956, he returned to Rio and reconnected with old friends, most notably Antônio Carlos Jobim, who was then working as a composer, producer, and arranger for Odeon Records. Jobim was impressed by Gilberto’s new guitar style and set about finding a suitable song to pitch to Odeon management.
What was net João Gilberto worth at the time of death?
Before his death, guitarist João Gilberto had a net worth of $5 million.
