A triple header! First, one of my favorite singers, Astrud Gilberto. She died the other day at the age of 83. There are a few versions of the story of how she catapulted to fame. I'll tell the one I like best.
Saxophonist Stan Getz was into samba and bossa nova and flew up one of the great Brazilian singers of that style, João Gilberto, to collaborate on an album with him. They were recording "The Girl from Ipanema" and Getz said it had the potential to become a hit single if Gilberto could sing it in English. Gilberto said he could only sing in Portuguese. Gilberto's wife, who was there only as his wife, said, "I could sing it in English." Getz gave Astrud the English lyrics, she sang it, and he loved it, he was definitely adding her to the recording. João said, "Um, no - - this is my album, she's not singing on it." Getz said, "Um, no - - this is MY album. I flew you two up here, this is MY project. She's on the album."
It did become a hit and she became a huge success. João never quite broke through because he couldn't sing in English. Waa waa waa. I love Astrud and her cool, detatched way of singing. Bewitching.
Next, another woman who first became known due to an association with the man in her life: French artist and author Françoise Gilot, who died the other day at the age of 101. She was the main squeeze of Pablo Picasso, who she met when she was 21 and he was 61. They had a good thing going for a while and had two children, Claude and Paloma Picasso. She eventually got fed up with Picasso's philandering and general assholery so she left him. He was amazed, he said no woman had ever left him. She said, "Well then I guess that makes me the first!" I paraphrase.
A few years later she married Jonas Freaking Salk. She also published a memoir of her time with Picasso which infuriated him further. He cut off all relations with her and their two children. She had great success as a visual artist and with her books. Here she is on CBS This Morning:
And finally, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, who died last week at the age of 70. Her opera *L'Amour de Loin* was done at the Met a few years ago and was so gorgeous, original, rhapsodic. Loved it. Here's a short excerpt sung by mezzo Tamara Mumford:
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