Astrud Gilberto

The honey-toned chanteuse on the surprise Brazilian crossover hit "The Girl from Ipanema," Astrud Gilberto parlayed her previously unscheduled appearance (and professional singing debut) on the song into a lengthy career that resulted in nearly a dozen albums on Verve and a successful performing career that lasted into the '90s. Though her appearance at the studio to record "The Girl from Ipanema" was only due to her husband João, one of the most famed Brazilian artists of the century, Gilberto's singular, quavery tone and undisguised naïveté propelled the song into the charts...