Rita Lee, Brazilian rock icon, is dead

2023-05-09 17:34:00

Rita Lee, Brazilian rock star, with the group Os Mutantes but also solo, died at the age of 75 on Monday evening in São Paulo.

by IM with AFP

Brazilian singer Rita Lee died at the age of 75 on Monday in Sao Paulo.
© VANESSA CARVALHO / BRAZIL PHOTO PRESS / AFP

Published on 05/09/2023 at 5:34 p.m.

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Rita Lee, legend of Brazilian rock, with the mythical group Os Mutantes, and solo with hits like Perfume Launcher, died Monday evening in São Paulo at the age of 75, her family announced on social media on Tuesday. The singer and songwriter, who had been suffering from lung cancer since 2021, died “in her residence in São Paulo, last night, surrounded by the love of her whole family, as she always wanted to be”. we read in a statement posted on Instagram. The funeral wake will take place on Wednesday at the planetarium in Ibirapuera Park, the green lung of the Brazilian megalopolis.

Crowned THE queen of Brazilian rock during her lifetime, she marked her era with her libertarian spirit, her voice, but also her look: medium-length hair with a radiant complexion (often in red) and glasses with colored lenses. Born in São Paulo on December 31, 1947, in the Brazilian middle class, Rita Lee Jones began her musical career in the 1960s, singing Beatles covers. But it was with the rock trio Os Mutantes that she gained fame, at the height of tropicalism, a libertarian movement that revolutionized Brazilian music in the midst of the military dictatorship (1964-1985).

Solo after leaving Os Mutantes

After leaving the band in 1972, she continued her solo career, with big hits like “Ovelha Negra” (1975), “Mania De Você” (1979), “Lança Perfume” (1980), and “Amor e Sex” (2003).

She retired from the scene at the age of 64, in 2012, and has since lived as a recluse in São Paulo with her husband, Roberto de Carvalho, and among his animals, her other great passion.