This Tuesday, 9, is marked by a huge loss for the world of music in Brazil and the world: died last night, at the age of 75, Rita Lee Jones, considered the queen of Brazilian rock for her role key to the genre. In 2021, the artist had been diagnosed with lung cancer. In an official note, the family announced that Rita died “at her residence, in São Paulo, capital, late last night (Monday), surrounded by all the love of her family, as she always wanted”.
An irreverent woman with strong opinions and outspokenness, Lee was a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, as well as a writer and presenter. She built a successful career that started with rock but flirted with several genres: from psychedelia from Os Mutantes to pop, going through disco, MPB, bossa nova, and electronica over more than five decades. She was a pioneer, the first artist to wield a guitar on stage, in addition to spending her entire career fighting in defense of animals.
A star is born
The youngest of three girls, Rita was born on New Year’s Eve 1947, from a meeting between a strict man and a descendant of Italians passionate about music. “Lee” is not the family surname but a compound name, given to the three daughters by the father in honor of the American General Robert E. Lee. Today this last name has become part of the family, so much so that Rita’s three children use it.
She grew up in the Vila Mariana neighborhood, where she took piano lessons and was early influenced by the rock of Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, but also by the Brazilian music that her parents listened to at home, with MPB classics such as Cauby Peixoto, Angela Maria, Maysa, and Joao Gilberto. She started composing her first songs as a teenager and joined bands with friends.
Rita joined the band Os Seis, in 1963, and recorded his first single, with two songs. The departure of three members of the sextet ended up leaving the trio formed by Rita, Arnaldo Baptista, and Sérgio Dias, who renamed the band Os Bruxos. Until, at the suggestion of Ronnie Von, the group changes its name again and gains notoriety throughout the territory.
Os Mutantes
With the band, Rita recorded some of the fundamental albums of Brazilian rock, composing and starring in memorable performances. The eponymous 1968 album already featured hits like “A minha menina”, “Balada do louco” and “Ando meio desligado”. With Os Mutantes as its main pillar, the Tropicália or tropicalismo movement was a cultural movement that mainly affected Brazilian music from the 60s onwards but also influenced the third phase of Cinema Novo (1968 – 1972), a Brazilian cinematographic movement marked by his critique of social inequality.
Amidst creative disagreements and a troubled relationship with Arnaldo Baptista, to whom she was married from 1968 to 1972, Rita Lee was expelled from the band, thus starting her solo career.
The patron saint of black sheep
In 73, Rita decided to take a break from music and traveled to London, and it was there that Rita Lee’s transformation into the figure we remember took place. As soon as she arrived in the city, she took the blonde out of her hair and put on the famous and classic red that accompanied her for decades.
With the end of Os Mutantes, Rita founded the band Tutti Frutti, with which she recorded several successful albums. The album Fruto Proibido, from 1975, enshrined the singer with the title of queen of Brazilian rock, with tracks like “Agora só falta você”, “Esse tal de roque enrow” and “Ovelha negra”. Rita was using a lot of acid at that time, the famous LSD, and this soon affected the group’s first album, which was rejected by the record company. In 74 they managed to release the first official album, but Rita kept using more and more drugs.
The label held a meeting with Rita, who was concerned about her image, and they told her how she should act and dress. Rita was enraged and left the room. Soon after, she was hired by Som Livre, where she was given complete creative freedom. Then we enter the golden age of Rita Lee. But it was with the entry of musician Roberto de Carvalho into the band that Rita began the musical and loving partnership that would last a lifetime.
In 1977, already living with Roberto and pregnant with her first child, Lee was caught by the military dictatorship carrying marijuana, being sentenced to one year of house arrest to “serve as an example to the youth”. Lee said the drug was planted by PMs. The end of prison and the band made the duo consecrate the name around the world with songs that flirted with different genres.
The union with Roberto de Carvalho went from intimacy to the stage, and the two began to perform together in the period considered the most “pop” of Rita’s career — both in the musical sense of the word, with a more diverse rhythm, and in terms of popularity. It was on the 1979 album that hits like “Mania de você”, “Doce vampiro” and “Chega mais” came out. Rita even said that the couple composed “Mania de Você” right after they had sex — and that her first orgasm was with her husband.
With her career on the rise, episodes of hospitalization for abuse of tranquilizers and alcohol began to appear. In 1986, the singer suffered a fall from the second-floor balcony of her farm, which caused her to fracture her jaw and undergo reconstructive surgery. Rita said she was only able to get rid of drugs and alcohol in 2006, after seeking help at a rehabilitation clinic.
The end of an era
The singer announced her retirement from the stage in 2012, due to her physical fragility: “I retire from concerts, but never from music”, she explained on Twitter. Her last performance, at the Sergipe Summer Festival, ended in controversy after Rita revolted with a policeman’s action that she considered aggressive towards the public. Accused of contempt of authority, she was taken to a police station after the show to give a statement and then released.
Throughout her career, Rita has conquered spaces and hearts. She performed as herself in Globo soap operas, such as Vamp and Ti-ti-ti, in addition to being interpreted by other people in several productions. Inspired by the homonymous autobiography, the 2014 musical Rita Lee lives alongside reality and fiction, tells the singer’s trajectory from the time of the Mutantes, in the 60s, to the present day, through the amusing confusions of Bárbara Farniente, a neighbor who always closely followed the life of the singer’s family, since her mother was in love with Rita’s father.
In the movie starring Mel Lisboa, the actress praised for her performance in Elis: viver é melhor que sonhar, a film/miniseries by Globo, we are warmed by the beautiful scene of Elis (Andréia Horta) visiting Rita in prison.
Rita is a great inspiration to thousands of people, especially women, and artists. This characteristic is easily found in Manu Gavassi, who cites his admiration for the rocker in songs such as “Deve se horrível dormir sem mim” and “Bossa Nossa” – in which, by the way, Rita makes a special appearance in the live shows, being the voice who talks to Manu during the song’s monologue.
Rita leaves 3 children, a husband, and a legion of fans with the bitter taste of longing for a world that will never be the same. Now, for eternity, the only thing missing is you, Rita Lee. And you can be sure that while you were alive and full of grace, you made a lot of people happy.
The article above was edited by Julia Bonin.
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