Gal Costa, legendary Brazilian singer, has died at age 77. And her legacy will linger on long after her death.
There is some confusion about how this happened. Costa was reportedly hospitalized on August 26. And she was found dead on September 2. But she has always been a little more active than that.
After all, her music was always rooted in her Brazilian roots.
So, in honor of the legendary Costa and her continued legacy—a legacy we hope to never forget—we asked her to help us figure out this story.
We reached out to Costa before she died, and she agreed to answer a few questions for us via email.
We also reached out to her family, who sent us an official press release in which Costa’s father and husband said she had “passed on [the day before] at 4:05 a.m. due to a health condition.”
However, Costa’s death certificate listed a condition as “unknown,” a condition she struggled with throughout her life.
We did our best to check the official records. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything. But I’ll give you a few clues.
Here are a few more clues Costa gave me about her early years and her career.
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1. Costa was born March 5, 1947, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2. Her father was a music producer and her mother was a pianist.
3. Her mother ran a theater company when Costa was growing up.
4. Costa’s first music teacher was another one of her mother’s teachers.
5. Costa’s first song, “Se Por Aí” (“If I Am Here”) was recorded in 1963.
6. She sang her first show, at age 13, at the Palace Theater.
7. Costa’s debut LP, The Best Of Beleza (1974), was produced by her dad.
8. One of Costa’s favorite songs is “Como Eu Sei” (�
