Grammy-winning Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes has died at the age of 83.

Sérgio Mendes, a Brazilian music powerhouse and bossa nova pioneer, has died in his hometown of Los Angeles, his family said in a statement Friday. He was 83.

Mendes, known worldwide for his version of the cross-generational hit “Mas Que Nada,” died peacefully on Thursday after battling the effects of long-term Covid disease, the statement said.

“His wife and musical partner of the past 54 years, Gracinha Leporace Mendes, was by his side, as were his beloved children,” the family said, adding that he “last performed to sold-out and enthusiastic crowds in Paris, London and Barcelona in November 2023.”

The Grammy-winning musician, who has released more than 35 albums in nearly six decades, has been struggling with breathing problems since late 2023, Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported.

Born in 1941 in Niterói, just outside Rio de Janeiro, Mendes began studying classical music as a child before falling in love with jazz at the age of 15.

His new musical inspiration led Mendes to play in nightclubs in Rio until the early 1960s, just as Brazil's captivating new musical style, Bossa Nova, was beginning to conquer the world.

By playing alongside and mingling with bossa nova legends such as Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Morais and Baden Powell, Mendes began to develop the style that would soon become his trademark: a distinctive blend of bossa nova, samba jazz, pop and funk.

He moved to the United States in 1964 when he formed his band Brasil '65. But it was with a revamped version of the group, renamed Brasil '66, that Mendes burst onto the global music scene with the song “Mas Que Nada,” written by Jorge Ben Jor.

The song was the opening track on the groundbreaking album Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66, which peaked at number 7 on the US Billboard 200 charts in 1966 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.

“Mas Que Nada” was re-recorded with the Black Eyed Peas in 2006 and reached the pop charts in nearly two dozen countries.

This version was also included in the soundtrack of the 2011 animated film “Rio” – which also earned Mendes an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song as co-writer of “Real in Rio”.

“Sergio Mendes was my brother from another country,” his longtime collaborator Herb Alpert wrote on Instagram on Friday morning. “He was a true friend and an extremely gifted musician who brought Brazilian music in all its variations to the world with elegance. [and] Joy.”