Brazilian rock legend Rita Lee, with big hits like “Lança Perfume”, died Monday evening in Sao Paulo at the age of 75, her family announced on social media on Tuesday.
Crowned the “Queen” of Brazilian rock during her lifetime, Rita Lee had marked her era with her libertarian spirit, her voice, but also her look: shoulder-length hair with a radiant complexion (often in red) and round glasses with colored lenses. The singer and songwriter, known worldwide with her hit “Lança Perfume” (1980), died at her residence in Sao Paulo on Monday evening, her family announced on social media on Tuesday. She had been suffering from lung cancer since 2021. The funeral vigil will take place on Wednesday at the planetarium in Ibirapuera Park, the green lung of the Brazilian megalopolis.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva paid tribute on Tuesday to one of the artists “ the greatest of brazilian music “. “ Singer, composer, actress and multi-instrumentalist, she was an artist ahead of her time “, he added. ” She was a revolutionary woman “, reacted for her part the Minister of Culture Margareth Menezes, during a hearing in the Senate, where she asked that a minute of silence be respected in her homage.
Born in Sao Paulo on December 31, 1947, in the Brazilian middle class, Rita Lee Jones began her musical career in the 1960s, singing covers of the Beatles. 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). ” Rest in peace, my sister, I love you “, declared on Instagram the singer Gilberto Gil, one of the emblems of tropicalism, in a message accompanied by a video showing him alongside Rita Lee.
From 1972, Rita Lee continued her solo career, with great successes such as “Ovelha Negra” (1975), “Mania de você” (1979), or “Amor e sexo” (2003). She retired from the scene at the age of 64, in 2012, and has since lived as a recluse in Sao Paulo with her husband, Roberto de Carvalho, and among his animals, her other great passion. ” My mother, whom I love more than anything, has become a star in the sky. What an intense and spectacular life you had (…) Your art will live forever “, posted one of his three sons, Joao Lee, on Instagram.
(With AFP)