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Born a doctor’s son in Niteroi Brazil (1941) Sergio Mendes trained as a classical pianist. However he discovered Jazz and by his sixteenth birthday he was leading his own outfit. He became part of the Bossa Nova movement and cut albums with Antonio Carlos Jobim. He played in various clubs and emigrated to the United States after a telegram he received was misconstrued by Brazil's newly-installed military regime as a subversive political communiqué It was Herb Alpert’s enthusiastic response that enabled their immediate success. Brazilian music soon became available to the masses, they were the leaders of international jet-set cocktail lounge pop. They took the relatively novel concept of interweaving two female singers into a unified lead vocal in 1965 which made it the unmistakable soundprint of “Brasil '66”,.
Sergio popularised Bossa Nova across the world across the 60’s by mixing originals, Brazilian standards and contemporary pop tunes making it accessible to everyone.
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