Gal Costa, one of the greatest voices in Brazilian popular music, died on the morning of this Wednesday (9), at the age of 77. The information was confirmed by the artist's press office.
The singer was one of the attractions of the Primavera Sound festival, which took place in São Paulo last weekend but had her participation canceled at the last minute. According to her team, she needed to recover after the removal of a nodule in her right nasal cavity.
The surgery took place in September, shortly after her performance at another music festival in São Paulo, the Coala Festival. Since then, she had not returned to live concerts.
Born Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos in Salvador, Bahia, Gal Costa was always encouraged by her mother to pursue a career in music. Her father, who died in her teens, was an absent figure.
She worked as a clerk at a record store in the capital of Bahia until she was introduced to Caetano Veloso in the early 1960s.
Gal was a revolution of voices and customs in Brazilian music from the minute she arrived on the national scene, in that same decade.
While still a teenager, she became close friends with Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethânia, and Gilberto Gil, all of them also from Bahia and with whom she would later integrate the band known as Doces Bárbaros
Translated by Cassy Dias