Norman Gimbel - Hit English-language Lyrics To Brazilian and French Songs

Hit English-language Lyrics To Brazilian and French Songs

In 1963, Gimbel was introduced by music publisher Lou Levy to a group of young Brazilian bossa nova composers, including Antônio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá and Baden Powell, for whose works he started writing English-language lyrics. Most notably, he created the lyrics for Marcos Valle's "Summer Samba", also known as "So Nice", as well as Jobim’s "How Insensitive", "The Girl from Ipanema" (turning it into a top hit for Astrud Gilberto) and "Meditation", which has gained the status of a "classic" in the jazz and bossa nova genres. He also provided the lyrics for French composers Michel Legrand (two themes from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg—"Watch What Happens" and the Oscar-nominated "I Will Wait for You"), Eddy Marnay and Emil Stern ("Amazing") and singer-composer Gilbert Bécaud ("You'll See" and other songs). He also provided the lyrics for Belgium jazz harmonica player Toots Thielemans ("Bluesette")."Only Love" sung by Nana Mouskuri - No 2 United Kingdom (Performed in a Command Performance for the Queen Mother).

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