Rita Lee | |
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 Lee in 2010 | |
| Born | Rita Lee Jones 31 December 1947 São Paulo, Brazil |
| Died | 8 May 2023 (aged 75) São Paulo, Brazil |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1966–2023 |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Formerly of | Os Mutantes |
| Website | ritalee |
| Signature | |
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Rita Lee Jones[a] (São Paulo 31 December 1947 – 8 May 2023) was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, presenter, actress, writer, and activist. Known as the "Queen of Brazilian Rock," she sold more than 55 million records, making her the most successful female artist by record sales in Brazil and the fourth overall, behind Tonico & Tinoco, Roberto Carlos, and Nelson Gonçalves. She built a career that started with rock but over the years flirted with various genres, such as psychedelia during the Tropicália era, pop rock, disco, new wave, pop, bossa nova, and electronic, creating a pioneering hybrid between international and national genres.
Rita was considered one of the most influential musicians in Brazil, being a reference for those who began the greater use of electric guitars from the mid-1970s. A former member of the group Os Mutantes (1966–1972) and Tutti Frutti (1973–1978), she participated in important revolutions in the world of music and society. Her songs, often filled with biting irony or a claim of female independence, became omnipresent on the charts. The album "Fruto Proibido" (1975), released with the band Tutti Frutti, is commonly seen as a fundamental landmark in the history of Brazilian rock, considered by some as her masterpiece.
In 1976, she began a romantic relationship with multi-instrumentalist and composer Roberto de Carvalho, who was the partner in most of Rita's compositions. They had three children, including guitarist Beto Lee, who accompanied his parents in live shows. Rita was vegan and an animal rights advocate. With a sixty-year career, the artist transitioned from the innovation and musical underground of the 1960s and 1970s to the very successful romantic ballads of the 1980s and a musical revolution, performing with numerous artists, including Elis Regina, João Gilberto, and the band Titãs. In October 2008, Rolling Stone magazine promoted a list of the hundred greatest artists in Brazilian music, where she ranks 15th. In 2023, Rita, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer two years earlier, died at the age of 75 on May 8, 2023.
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