The daughter of a Brazilian mother and a German father, Gilberto was raised in Rio de Janeiro and moved to the USA in the early 1960s. In her mid-teens, she became part of (her own words) a "musical clan" when she met João Gilberto, whom she described as the clan's musical "guru". She married him a few months later, in 1959. She frequently sang duets with him, or sang while he accompanied her on guitar, and he acted as her musical tutor. She also sang publicly with her husband in a concert at the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Architecture, but did not sing professionally at that time.
The couple moved to the United States in 1963, where she performed on the influential Getz/Gilberto album with João Gilberto, Stan Getz and Antonio Carlos Jobim. While rehearsing "The Girl from Ipanema", João asked her to sing a verse in English, and then persuaded Getz to include this in the final recording. Getz agreed, and Astrud's professional career began. After the recording Getz told Astrud it would make her famous, and was proved correct.
In the mid-1960s the couple divorced.
The success of Gilberto's vocal work on the song "The Girl from Ipanema" quickly turned her into a jazz star, and soon she started recording solo. She started as an interpreter of Brazilian bossa nova and American jazz standards, but started recording her own compositions in the 1970s.
Gilberto's recordings exposed the nations of the World to the sensuality of Brazilian music and to her unique vocal interpretations of American music, such as "The Shadow of your Smile", "It Might as well be Spring", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Look to the Rainbow" (from her album of the same title, with Gil Evans), "Love Story", etc...
Following the hit with "Ipanema", her recording career quickly took off. Her first solo effort, "The Astrud Gilberto Album", was an immediate best-seller and was itself nominated as album of the year. Her next albums were all chart-toppers and were released on a yearly schedule. Her talents were much in demand in other areas as well as she appeared in two motion pictures, "The Hanged Man" and "Get Yourself a College Girl" and also recorded the soundtrack for "The Deadly Affair", arranged by Quincy Jones. She made appearances in all of the popular US television shows of the time, and had TV specials built around her in Europe, Japan and Africa. For many years she was the voice of Eastern Airlines, having recorded award-winning commercials.
In the early seventies, Gilberto revealed another facet of her talents, her songwriting, which was introduced on the albums "Astrud Gilberto Now" (1972) and "That Girl From Ipanema" (1977). On the "That Girl from Ipanema" album, Gilberto recorded one of her songs, "Far Away" (with lyrics by Hal Shaper), as a duet with the legendary Chet Baker. As she has revealed in interviews, this was one of the most rewarding events of her career, since Baker had been one of Gilberto's idols dating back to her teenage years. In 1976, one of her compositions, "Live Today" (co-written with Jerome Schur), received an award at the Tokyo Music Festival.
In the early eighties, Gilberto formed a group, a sextet comprised of piano, bass, drums, trombone, guitar and percussion. Her son, Marcelo Gilberto, joined her group as bassist. With this group format, she toured Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States. With the aid of Marcelo's valuable musical contributions, she polished the group's arrangements and entered a different phase in her career, as her music became more diversified and her songwriting more proliferous. Her shows, from the beginning of her career up to her last public appearance (2001), have been usually sold out and at many venues she has broken the house record in attendance. Seeking for a way to overcome her stage fright, which was sometimes overwhelming, Gilberto attended the Stella Adler School of Acting, for a couple of years, in the early eighties. The experience was helpful. Although still shy, Gilberto learned to control the stage fright to the extent that she can "live with it".
Her album "Astrud Gilberto Plus The James Last Orchestra", released in 1987, solidified her career as songwriter. The album includes a few of her own original compositions of which "Champagne & Caviar", "Amor e Som" and "I'm nothing without you" (Astrud's lyrics to A.C. Jobim's melody) are best known. The release of this album combined with the reissuing of some of her early records as CDs has created a whole new generation of fans for Astrud Gilberto all over the world, in addition to her already large number of followers. The "Astrud Gilberto Plus the James Last Orchestra" album was extremely well received by critics, as well as fellow artists.
In 1990, Gilberto, along with her sons Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, formed Gregmar Productions, Inc. In the years that followed, Gilberto toured extensively, developing her live show and writing new material.
In 1992, Gilberto received the "Latin Jazz USA Award for Lifetime Achievement" for her outstanding contribution to Latin jazz music.
In 1995, the first project by Gregmar studios was released on an album as tribute to Jobim on the label Ps Flag/BMG ("Heirs To Jobim"). The song, "Forever Green", one of Jobim's last compositions before passing away, features saxophonist Michael Brecker. In that same year, in a sold-out Thursday night appearance, Astrud Gilberto became the first "Jazz" Artist to sing at the trendy "House of Blues" in Los Angeles, which had until then presented Blues and Rock acts, exclusively. She has also broken house records at the very popular "Jazz Cafe" club in London.
In early 1996 the first album from Gregmar was released in the Asian territories, including Japan, on the Pony Canyon label. It is comprised of various live performances recorded in NYC in 1989, for which is called "Astrud Gilberto - Live in New York".
The "Desafinado" duet with George Michael, in the Fall of 1996 included on the "Red Hot & Rio" album, gained international attention, and exposed the Bossa Nova style to a large number of Pop music fans. "Desafinado" has also been included on George Michael's 1999 release "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best of George Michael".
Also in 1996, Gilberto recorded a duet with the famous European vocalist, French Pop star, Ettienne Daho. The song, "Les Bordes de Seine", included on Daho's "Eden" album, was co-written by Daho and Gilberto and was particularly well received by "Hip-Hop" fans.
In late 1997, a studio album (also by Gregmar Productions), produced by Astrud and Marcelo Gilberto, was released in the Asian territories by the Pony Canyon label. Comprised entirely of Astrud Gilberto's original compositions (with the exception of just one American standard), the album bears the title of "Temperance". Yet to be released outside of Asia, the album features guests Michael Franks and the New York Voices.
Gilberto's sold-out performances at the "House of Blues", and her legendary shows at NYC's SOB's continued to be musical "happenings" to her fans up until 2001, when she decided to take indefinite time off the "road", in order to be able to spend more time with her family, and do more writing and painting (she is also a fine art artist (click here to view some of her artwork).
Gilberto's style has been a strong influence in contemporary music. Many artists have revealed the fact that they have been inspired by her musical style, among them: Basia (who recorded a tribute to Astrud, a song named "Astrud"), Sade, Sinead O'Connor, Michael Franks, Pat Metheney, and Suzanne Vega. Several "avant-garde" groups have also professed having Astrud as their "inspiring muse".
Gilberto's work as songwriter has gradually but surely developed from a "side thing" in the beginning of her career, to an integral part of it, in the later years. Since the mid-eighties, her live shows featured a large number of her own original compositions, to which audiences have been just as receptive as they have always been to old standards such as "The Girl from Ipanema", "One Note Samba", or "Quiet Nights".
Gilberto's 2002 "Jungle" album release, is a showcase of her songwriting, as it features ten original new compositions.
In April 2002, Gilberto was inducted into the "International Latin Music Hall of Fame".
In November 2008, Gilberto was awarded by the Latin Recording Academy the "Lifetime Achievement" Grammy Award.
All I've Got
Astrud Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
oh love, look at me
oh love can't you see
I'm so in love with you
I'm so in love with you
No one can stop the sun from shining
No one can stop the music from playing
my feelings for you
my thoughts to you
my music to you
No one can stop the earth from moving
No one can stop the lovers from loving
No one can stop my heart from getting all I've got to you
my body to you
my thought to you
all of my loving to you
(instrumental)
No one can stop the earth from flying
No one can stop the dreamers from dreaming
No one, ah no one, can stop my heart from getting all I've got to you
my days to you
my nights to you
all of my dreams to you
No one can stop the sun from shining
No one can stop the music from playing
No one can stop my heart from getting all I've got to you
my feelings for you
my thoughts to you
my music to you
In Astrud Gilberto's song "All I've Got," the lyrics touch on the idea that love is an unstoppable force that cannot be contained or stopped by anyone or anything. The song starts with a plea to love to come and look at the person singing, emphasizing the intensity of their feelings for their love. The chorus repeats the words "No one can stop" in reference to the sun shining, music playing, the earth moving, and lovers loving, all with the idea that love is just as unstoppable.
The verse continues with the singer expressing their desire to give their all to their love, with their feelings, thoughts, and music. The instrumental section portrays the emotions that the lyrics can't quite express, allowing the listener to feel the intensity of the singer's emotions. The second chorus repeats the idea that no one can stop the earth from flying or dreamers from dreaming, driving home the message that love is an unstoppable force that cannot be conquered.
In conclusion, "All I've Got" is a song that emphasizes the idea that love is an unstoppable force that cannot be contained by anyone or anything. The lyrics express the singer's intense feelings for their love, and the instrumental section allows the listener to feel the depth of those emotions. The repetition of the phrase "No one can stop" emphasizes this idea of love's unbeatable nature and its power to overcome any obstacle.
Line by Line Meaning
Love, come to me
The singer is asking for love to come into their life.
oh love, look at me
The singer wants love to notice them.
oh love can't you see
The singer wants love to understand their feelings.
I'm so in love with you
The artist is expressing their love for someone.
No one can stop the sun from shining
Nothing can stop the natural course of events.
No one can stop the music from playing
Nothing can stop the joy-filled moments in life.
No one can stop my heart from getting all I've got to you
Nothing can stop the singer's feelings, thoughts, and love for someone.
my feelings for you
The artist is expressing their emotions towards someone.
my thoughts to you
The artist is expressing their thoughts and feelings to someone.
my music to you
The artist is conveying their music, or the things that make them happy, to someone else.
No one can stop the earth from moving
Natural events cannot be prevented from occurring.
No one can stop the lovers from loving
Love is an unstoppable force.
my body to you
The singer is offering their physical presence to someone they love.
all of my loving to you
The singer is giving all their love to the person they love.
No one, ah no one, can stop my heart from getting all I've got to you
Nothing can stop the singer's deep affection for someone.
my days to you
The artist is offering their time and presence to someone they love.
my nights to you
The artist is offering their time and presence during the evening to someone they love.
all of my dreams to you
The singer is sharing their dreams and aspirations with someone they love.
Contributed by Ruby V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Diary of a mentally exhausted person
Incredible!! I didn't know she was recorded a Disco song, Loved it ❤.
Ken Serpico
Que boa musica, what a great song, que linda cancion.
Ken Serpico
Astrude, RIP. Descanse em paz.
Marcobeatle Mant
Lindo talento brasileiro,sendo mais valorizada em terras do norte,isto prova que a arte ñ tem fronteiras.
Gerald Enriquez
Anything by Astrud is exquisite: She is one who carries everything , anything with that voice. Add the looks, add the movement and the occasional smile, and still you're able to criticize as if a failure was occuring, gotta lessen some pride or add some taste.
Ledger David
InstaBlaster...
maria do socorro ferraz machado
Adoro sua voz! Maravilhosa!
Sharon Dzialo
So lyrical - so smooth. Like floating on air.
Nicolle Huminuik
I love this song! We need it now more than ever!!
steve tjehlt
I have to whole heartedly agree with you on Astrud. She is a consistent and raging talent. I love her too!!!!!!! I never get tired of listening to her sing! She is the WOW of Bossa Nova!!!!!!!