Brazilian rock singer Rita Lee is dead. Lee died last night at her home in Sao Paulo at the age of 75, according to her family on the legendary singer’s Instagram account today. The cause of death was not initially known. Lee was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and has been on treatment since.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his condolences and called Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho “one of the greatest and most brilliant names in Brazilian music, an artist ahead of her time”.
Feminism and drug problems addressed
The multi-instrumentalist became known with the group “Os Mutantes” from 1966 – two years after the beginning of the military dictatorship in Brazil – and made a decisive contribution to the “Tropicalia” movement, a politically charged mixture of rock and folk music from the Brazilian hinterland. In her solo career, Lee created songs that became very popular in Brazil, while also bringing in themes of feminism and her drug problems.
In a career spanning nearly six decades, the bright red-haired woman recorded more than 20 albums, performed with Brazilian legends Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, opened the Rolling Stones shows in Brazil and won the Latin Grammy for Best Rock Album Portuguese.
The term “Queen of Rock” that resulted from this, Lee himself found cheesy. She preferred “Patron of Freedom”.
