Sergio Mendes, a pioneer of Brazilian contemporary crossover music and a highly inventive and influential pianist, composer, and arranger, passed away in Los Angeles on September 6 at the age of 83, according to his family. Despite having long-term COVID, the cause of death was not disclosed.
A statement from his family obtained by the Guardian states that Mendes “passed away peacefully” in his hometown of Los Angeles.
“His wife and musical partner for the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his loving children. Mendes last performed in November 2023 to sold out and wildly enthusiastic houses in Paris, London and Barcelona,” they stated. “For the last several months, his health had been challenged by the effects of long-term COVID.”
Herb Alpert, a close friend and collaborator of his, posted on his Instagram, saying, “Sergio Mendes was my brother from another country. He was a true friend and extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its iterations to the entire world with elegance [and] joy.”
Son of a physician, Mendes was born and raised in Niterói, Brazil on February 11, 1941, and was encouraged by his father to pursue classical piano at a conservatorium. However, his interest in classical music faded as he moved to the city of Rio and fell in love with Brazilian and American jazz.
He was first a member of the band of renowned bossa nova guitarist-composer Antônio Carlos Jobim and then later went on with his own Brasil ‘66, that shaped audiences’ perceptions of reactions to Brazilian music for many years. Mendes created a string of singles including “Goin’ Out of My Head,” renditions of Beatles songs like “Fool on the Hill,” and his iconic take on composer Jorge Ben’s “Mas que Nada” with his delicate feel for samba, jazz, and the cosmopolitan pop of contemporary (and A&M Records labelmate Burt Bacharach).
The composer continued to be a titan of Brazilian po/jazz sound after the mid-1960s and into the present. He produced and orchestrated Sarah Vaughns’s “Brazilian Romance” and worked on animated movies about his native country, including “Rio,” which came out in 2011.
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