On March 18, 1963, Stan went into the studio to record Getz/Gilberto. Joao Gilberto was almost pathologically shy and refused to leave his hotel room to go to the studio. Monica went to his hotel and pleaded with Gilberto to go. The only Brazilian fluent in English present at the session was Gilberto's wife, Astrud. Stan asked her to sing “Corcodavo” and “The Girl From Impanema”. She had no training or experience, but Stan liked her voice. “Gilberto and Jobim didn't want Astrud on it. Astrud wasn't a professional singer; she was a housewife. But when I wanted translations of what was going on, and she sang “Ipanema” and “Corcodavo”, “I thought the words in English were very nice... and Astrud sounded good enough to put on the record.” In March of 1964, Verve released Getz/Gilberto. Monica actually went into the record office and spent weeks calling radio stations all over the country making sure they had a copy and encouraging them to give it airplay. Her work paid off, and the album began to chart on June 6, 1964.
“The Girl From Ipanema” was a big hit single and made the unknown Astrud Gilberto a star. In July of 1964, “The Girl From Ipanema” reached #5 on the pop charts, and the album Getz/Gilberto reached #2, edged out only by the Beatle's A Hard Day's Night. Getz/Gilberto won Album of the Year honors at the 1965 Grammy's, with “Ipanema” winning as best single for the year. Two more Grammy's were bestowed on the album for Best Engineered Album, and one to Stan for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance.