Rita Lee
Rita Lee | |
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Formerly of | Os Mutantes |
Website | ritalee |
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Rita Lee Jones (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʁitɐ li]; 31 December 1947 – 8 May 2023) was a Brazilian rock singer, musician and songwriter. She was a member of the band Os Mutantes and a popular figure in Brazilian entertainment. She was also known for being an animal rights activist and a vegan. She sold more than 55 million records worldwide.[1] Her autobiography Rita Lee: Uma Autobiografia was the best-selling non-fiction book of 2017 in Brazil.[2]
Early life and education
Rita Lee was born in Vila Mariana (district of São Paulo), Brazil, to an American-Brazilian father, Charles Fenley Jones,[3] a dentist descended from the Confederates, and Romilda Padula, a Brazilian mother of Italian ancestry and a pianist. She studied classical piano with the renowned pianist Magdalena Tagliaferro. In place of the traditional adolescent debut ball, she asked to receive a drum set.
Lee was educated in a French-language school and became fluent in Spanish, French, and Italian, as well as her native Portuguese and the English that her parents spoke at home.[4] She went to college, with the popular actress Regina Duarte as one of her classmates, but she soon left to pursue her musical career.
Career
In 1966, Lee formed the band Os Mutantes with Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Dias. The band released five albums between 1968 and 1972. In that time, Lee also released her first two solo works, although these records were produced with fellow members of Os Mutantes. When the band reformed in 2006, she refused to join, calling the reunion an attempt to "earn cash to pay for geriatry".[5]
Lee formed a band with two other friends, excelling at vocals so much that they backed stars such as Tony Campelo, Jet Blacks, Demetrius, and Prini Lopez, when they met the brothers Arnaldo and Sérgio Dias Baptista. Adopting the name O'Seis (a pun with "the six" and the Brazilian
In 1968, Os Mutantes performed on the album/manifesto
In 1969, following the arrests of Gil and Veloso, Os Mutantes went to Europe, playing in
In 1970, Lee recorded her solo album, Build Up, produced by Arnaldo Baptista. Soon after, they had a stint at the Olympia in Paris. In that period, during their somewhat frequent tours in Europe, they recorded an LP that was never fully released, Tecnicolor, with the exception of some tracks included on 1971's Jardim Elétrico. The LP, A Divina Comédia ou Ando Meio Desligado, is from that year and Jardim Elétrico (Polydor) from the next. In 1972, Lee recorded another solo album backed by Os Mutantes, Hoje É o Primeiro Dia do Resto da Sua Vida (Philips). After releasing the Mutantes e Seus Cometas no País do Baurets, Lee was ejected from the group by Arnaldo.[7] Following a period of depression, during which she became locked up in her home,[citation needed] she decided to abandon her career, but, at the same time, she was writing the material that would make her famous as a solo artist.[8]
Going solo
Following her departure from Os Mutantes in late 1972, Lee started a solo career. She was initially part of a female duo with singer
In the late 1970s, Lee started a partnership with her husband, Roberto de Carvalho, and many subsequent albums were credited to the duo Lee/Carvalho.[11] In the late 1970s, Lee was mentioned in the Caetano Veloso song, "Sampa".
In 1976, pregnant for the first time, she was arrested for possession of
In 1978, she released Babilônia, her fourth and last album with the band Tutti Frutti. The last work came after disagreements between members of the band. The guitarist Luis Carlini left the band, taking the name Tutti Frutti with him. Lee and the rest of the band finished the tour under the name Rita Lee & Cães e Gatos.[9] Lee started recording with her husband, Roberto de Carvalho. The couple wrote hits such as "Mania de Você" (1979), "Lança Perfume" (1980), "Saúde" (1981), "Flagra" (1982), and "On the Rocks" (1983).[12]
Other activities
Aside from her musical career, Lee had a comedy program called Radio Amador on Brazilian radio for nine months in 1986. That same year, Lee wrote three children's books and appeared in Brazilian movies and TV shows. In 1990, she started her own talk show, called TvLeeZão (a play on "televisão", the Portuguese word for television), on MTV Brasil. From 2002 to 2004, she hosted the Brazilian cable TV talk show Saia Justa. In 2005, she and her husband started a new talk show, called Madame Lee. She worked as actress in the 1989 film Better Days Ahead and made a brief cameo in the 2002 film Durval Discos. In 2008–09, she performed a new show called Pic Nic Tour. In 2010, she performed another new show called Etc...Tour, revisiting some forgotten songs from her long career. In 2011, she began to produce and record two new albums. The first one had then new unreleased songs, and the second one is called Bossa'n Movies where she continued the project started with Bossa'n Roll in 1991 and Bossa'n Beatles (Aqui, ali, em qualquer lugar).
In 2011, she contributed the track "Pistis Sophia" to the
Personal life and death
Lee was married to Mutante Arnaldo Baptista from 1968 to 1972. In 1976, MPB singer Ney Matogrosso introduced her to guitarist Roberto de Carvalho, whom she married, and they had three children: Beto Lee, João Lee, and Antônio.
Lee died at her home in São Paulo on 8 May 2023, at the age of 75.
Discography
Studio albums
- Build Up (1970)
- Hoje É o Primero Dia do Resto da Sua Vida (1972)
- Atrás do Porto Tem uma Cidade (1974)
- Fruto Proibido (1975)
- Entradas e Bandeiras (1976)
- Babilônia (1978)
- Rita Lee (1979)
- Rita Lee (1980)
- Saúde (1981)
- Rita Lee e Roberto de Carvalho (1982)
- Bombom (1983)
- Rita e Roberto (1985)
- Flerte Fatal (1987)
- Zona Zen (1988)
- Rita Lee e Roberto de Carvalho (1990)
- Todas as Mulheres do Mundo (1993)
- Santa Rita de Sampa (1997)
- 3001 (2000)
- Aqui, Ali, Em Qualquer Lugar(2001)
- Balacobaco (2003)
- Reza (2012)
Live albums
- Refrescancia (1977)
- Rita Lee em Bossa n Roll (1991)
- A Marca da Zorra (1995)
- MTV: Aucústico (1998)
- Ao Vivo (2004)
- Multishow Ao Vivo (2009)
International albums
- Baila Conmigo (1982)
with Os Mutantes
- Os Mutantes (1968)
- Mutantes (1969)
- A Divina Comédia ou Ando Meio Desligado (1970)
- Jardim Elétrico (1971)
- Mutantes e Seus Cometas no País do Baurets (1972)
Books
- 1986: Dr. Alex
- 1988: Dr. Alex e os Reis de Angra
- 1990: Dr. Alex na Amazônia
- 1992: Dr. Alex e o Oráculo de Quartz
- 2013: Storynhas
- 2016: Rita Lee: Uma Autobiografia
- 2017: Dropz
- 2018: favoRita
- 2019: Amiga Ursa – Uma história triste, mas com final feliz
- 2023: Rita Lee: Outra autobiografia
Selected filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | The Amorous Ones | Singer in the nightclub | |
1989 | Better Days Ahead | Mary Shadow | |
1989 | Top Model | Belatrix | |
1991 | Vamp | Lita Ree | |
1995 | Os Trapalhões | Beauty contest photographer | |
1997 | Sai de Baixo | Scarlet Antibes | |
2002 | Durval Discos | Julieta | |
2006 | Wood & Stock: Sexo, Orégano e Rock'n'Roll | Rê Bordosa | |
2013 | Worms | Martha |
References
- ^ "Especial em Macapá vai homenagear a 'rainha do rock brasileiro'" (in Portuguese). G1. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- ^ "Rita Lee é a brasileira que mais vendeu livros de não-ficção em 2017". Forbes Brasil. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- ^ Eugene C. Harter. "The Lost Colony of the Confederacy". Texas A&M University Press, 1985, p. 74.
- ^ "Biography". Ritalee.com.br. Archived from the original on 19 December 2005.
- ^ "Rita Lee critica a volta dos Muntantes « House of Progressive". Archived from the original on 13 February 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
- ^ Victoria Langland, "Il est Interdit d'Interdire: The Transnational Experience of 1968 in Brazil", Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2006)
- ^ "Mutantes – depois de 30 anos, as mutações voltaram". Whiplash.net. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- ^ "Rita Lee – Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
- ^ a b "Albuns – Rita Lee & Tutti Frutti – the band". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- ^ a b Nascimento, Roberto. "Esse tal de Rock... ACERTOU" (in Portuguese). Estado de São Paulo. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013.
- ^ "Cliquemusic : Artista : Rita Lee" (in Portuguese). Cliquemusic.uol.com.br. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
- ^ "All Brazilian Music: Artista: Rita Lee". Archived from the original on 5 August 2011.
- ^ Álvares, Débora (9 May 2023). "Rita Lee, Brazil's long-reigning Queen of Rock, dies at 75". Associated Press. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Rita Lee, rainha do rock brasileiro, morre aos 75 anos". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Rita Lee: famosos lamentam morte de cantora". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Lula lamenta morte de Rita Lee: 'Jamais será esquecida'". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 9 May 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.