October 28, 2020 – With a heavy heart, I note the passing of my good friend, the gifted bossa nova musician and composer Sérgio Augusto. He was at Denver International Airport preparing to board a flight back to Brazil to record a CD and perform some shows when he suffered a massive heart attack. He spent the next 15 days fighting for his life but died of organ failure on October 25. Tomorrow would have been his 80th birthday.

Sérgio Augusto Sarapo was born into a musical family on October 29, 1940 in the city of São Paulo. His father, a native of Italy, was a composer of classical music, and his paternal grandparents were both concert pianists. At age eight, his family moved to Santa Bárbara d'Oeste in the interior of São Paulo state. Sérgio told me, “I studied violin when I was four. At seven or eight, I studied piano. But at that age, like any other young Brazilian boy, I wanted to be a soccer player. I studied violin at the Carlos Gomes Conservatory in São Paulo and piano with my father. That was the most formal music education I had. I am self-taught on both guitar and voice.”

Sérgio began his professional career playing in small São Paulo nightclubs. Then he got a gig on a television show where he met Rubens Barsotti, the drummer in Zimbo Trio which later recorded Sérgio's first composition, “Barquinho Diferente.” On the same show, he met the carioca singer Claudette Soares who was the biggest bossa nova star in São Paulo. He told me, “Claudette heard me sing on the show and invited me to join her and her group, which was made up of the Pedrinho Mattar Trio. Then I began playing at the famous bossa nova nightclubs — João Sebastião Bar, Ela, and Cravo e Canela.”

Writing in 2006, Claudette Soares recalled that first time hearing Sérgio sing: “I remember having said that I had never seen anyone with as much musicality. His voice is perfect for bossa nova (soft and easy going) and his guitar strumming is unique. I was right. To this day I have seen nothing like it!!”

Sérgio became one of the stars of the São Paulo bossa nova scene, performing alongside Paulinho Nogueira, Johnny Alf, Alaíde Costa, Zimbo Trio, Os Três Moraes, Maricenne Costa, and others.

When I asked Sérgio how he first fell in love with bossa nova, he replied, “I first heard boss nova on the radio — João Gilberto singing ‘Chega de Saudade.’ I was mesmerized by this sound. Until then, I had listened to samba-canções by Anísio Silva, Mouraci Moura, and Dolores Duran. But João's sound really touched my soul. I was given a guitar as a present and I started to listen and trying to reproduce music by Luiz Bonfá, João Gilberto, Walter Wanderley, and Paulinho Nogueira amongst others.”

Sérgio told this amusing story about the early days of bossa nova: “We used to get together and share our songs; a lot of camaraderie. There was a funny incident. We were at Lula Freire's house having a jam session. In the '60s, Brazil was governed by a military government and even musicians had to be careful. Well, we were singing and playing, and someone looked out the window and saw a microphone hanging near the window. We thought it was the government checking on us. And we soon discovered that it was the neighbor who was enchanted with the bossa nova sound!”

Because it grew extremely difficult to make a living performing music — especially bossa nova after it became less popular — Sérgio abandoned his career after a few years and began working in advertising, founding his own recording studio. He told me, “For the next 40 years I dedicated myself to the jingle and soundtrack composition, although bossa nova was my therapy for stressing times.” He had a very successful advertising career, winning nearly every award in Brazil plus 13 international CLIO awards. His studio was regarded as one of the best in São Paulo.

Around 1980, he launched another project. Elis Regina and César Camargo Mariano were good friends, and with them and two others he founded Brazil's TRAMA record company. The name is comprised of the first letter of each of their names. (The founders are no longer involved in the company.)

Sérgio left advertising around 2001. He told me, “To tell the truth, I got fed up with advertising, the disrespect of the agencies, and thought: I only live once. I'm going to do what I love, and that was bossa nova and composing music. So I took the plunge and said, ‘enough!’” Besides Claudette Soares, his many musical partners and friends included Durval Ferreira, Lula Barbosa, Natan Marques, and Myrthes Aguiar. Sérgio Augusto's albums include SaBad'O: Lembranças de Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, Tudo que Arde, Cura, and Quatro Estações.

He is survived by his wife, Vicki Sarapo, and daughter, Joice Regina. His ashes will be interred in his beloved home, Santa Bárbara d'Oeste.