João Gilberto who lived from June 10, 1931, to July 6, 2019, was a Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer who was a pioneer of the bossa nova musical genre in the late 50s.
He was referred to as O Mito in his native Brazil which translates into The Legend in English.
What happened to João Gilberto?
Gilberto lived a sad lonely life during the latter parts of his years on earth. He was plagued with financial problems and illness.
His situation caused mental problems to set in further aggravating his precarious pathetic fall from grace to grass.
He finally died alone and broken at age 88 in a small apartment in Rio de Janeiro. Gilberto was buried two days after his death.
Renowned pop critic Chris Richards of the Washinton Post had this to say about the legend, “His voice was one of the most intimate sounds of the 20th century – more melodic than a sigh, more rhythmic than chitchat, only just barely. Every syllable that appeared on his lips carried an air of effortlessness, but Gilberto had worked hard to locate that sacred place where a human breath becomes music.”
Source: Ghanafuo.com
