Rita Lee

Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho (31 December 1947 – 8 May 2023), known as Rita Lee, was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, author, actress and television host. Dubbed the "Queen of Brazilian Rock", she stood out as one of the most influential figures in the country's popular music, recognised for her reinvention and versatility in musical production. She began her career in rock, but over the years explored psychedelia, pop rock, disco, new wave, pop, bossa nova and electronic music, promoting a pioneering hybridisation between international genres and domestic traditions. This trajectory enabled her to move beyond the underground circuit of the 1960s and 1970s and achieve widespread success with romantic ballads in the 1980s.

Born and raised in São Paulo, she began her musical journey in 1963, joining the Tulio's Trio and, later, the Teenage Singers (which would become Os Seis). She rose to domestic prominence as the vocalist and instrumentalist of the Tropicália group Os Mutantes. She achieved solo stardom with the album Fruto Proibido (1975), recorded with the band Tutti Frutti and regarded as an essential milestone in the history of Brazilian rock, serving as a reference for generations of guitarists. In 1976, she established a romantic and creative partnership with the multi-instrumentalist and composer Roberto de Carvalho, with whom she co-wrote most of her repertoire. Together, they revolutionised pop music in Brazil and released a series of commercially highly successful albums, including Rita Lee (1979), Rita Lee (1980), Saúde (1981) and Rita Lee & Roberto de Carvalho (1982), the last of which is one of the best-selling Brazilian albums of all time. Her compositions, marked by sharp irony and advocacy for female autonomy, became constant presences in the charts, with songs such as "Ovelha negra", "Agora só falta você", "Mania de você", "Lança-perfume", "Baila comigo", "Saúde", "Banho de espuma", "Flagra", "Desculpe o auê", "Erva venenosa", "Amor e sexo" and "Reza".