Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer best known for her smooth performance of "The Girl from Ipanema," has died at age 83.

Paul Ricci, a family friend and musician, confirmed her death in a Facebook post.

"She was an important part of ALL that is Brazilian music in the world and she changed many lives with her energy," Ricci said Tuesday.

The vocalist's granddaughter, Sofia Gilberto, also remembered her in a touching post on Instagram. "I love and will love Astrud forever, and she was the face and voice of bossa nova around most of planet," she wrote. "Astrud will forever be in our hearts, and right now we have to celebrate Astrud."

"The Girl from Ipanema," written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, was already a hit in South America in the 1960s, but it came to the U.S. in 1964 when a producer on the "Getz/Gilberto" album, which featured Gilberto's former husband João Gilberto and jazz legend Stan Getz, saw an opportunity to expand its appeal by including English lyrics.

As they recorded, Astrud Gilberto was called upon to sing some of the song's lyrics in English because she knew "just enough" of the language, the Associated Press reported.

The rest is history. Astrud Gilberto became an overnight sensation and helped popularized bossa nova around the world.