Astrud Gilberto was born in Brazil and in her late teens became part of the steadily growing bossa nova scene which was led by singer/guitarist Joao Gilberto, soon to become her husband. When they moved to New York together, Joao made a record with American saxophonist Stan Getz. After casually joining in a rehearsal, Astrud was asked to sing on the song “The Girl from Ipanema”. Later she said ‘I’ll never forget that while we were listening back to the just recorded song in the studio’s control room, Stan said to me, with a very dramatic expression: “This song is going to make you famous”.’

Astrud Gilberto did indeed go on to have a very successful recording career in the 1960s, 70s and beyond. She received the Latin Jazz USA Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1992, and was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2002. Her original recording of “Fly Me to the Moon” was edited as a duet using a recording of the same song by Frank Sinatra for the soundtrack of the film Down with Love; and  her recording “Who Can I Turn To?” was sampled by The Black Eyed Peas in the song “Like That.”.

Parisian born singer Véronique Joly started performing live at the age of seventeen, working in the Paris music scene before moving to London in 1992. She has been involved in many diverse projects, including co-writing and recording a song for the BBC programme ‘Rick Stein: French Odyssey’, and providing vocals for the movie Night Dragon. She sings in English, French and Portuguese.  

Brighten up your November with the sultry sunshine sounds of Brazil!