Rita Lee Jones, Brazil's million-selling 'Queen of Rock' who gained an international following through her colorful and candid style and such hits as 'Ovelha Negra,' 'Mania de Voce' and 'Now Only Missing You,' has died at 75.
Otherwise known as Rita Lee, she died at her home in Sao Paulo on Monday evening, according to a statement posted to her official Instagram account.
“I was not born to get married and wash underwear. I wanted the same freedom as the boys who used to play in the street with their toy cars,” she told the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone in 2008. “When I got into music, I realized that the “machos” reigned absolute, even more in rock music. ‘Wow’, I said, ‘this is where I’m going to let my fangs out and, literally, give them a hard time.’”
Rita Lee rose to fame with the group Os Mutantes , starting in 1966. Colors and creativity, as well as irony and irreverence, were Lee’s trademarks from the start, evident in the flamboyant costumes she performed in her shows. By the mid-1970s, after selling 200,000 copies of the album “Forbidden Fruit,” Lee began to be called the “queen of rock” on the music scene.
She was one of the first public figures in Brazil to popularize feminist themes, such as infusing the lyrics of her 1979 song “Mania de Voce” with female sexuality and pleasure. Similar songs followed, such as “Amor e Sexo” which contrasted the two in detail and “Lança Perfume” , an ode to unbridled hedonism.
She also referred to herself as a “rebel” and “hippie communist,” and wrote of sneaking out the windows of her house as a teenager to play, being arrested during the dictatorship for possession of marijuana, and her multiple stints in rehab clinics for drugs and alcohol.
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