As one of the few female rockers to play guitar on stage in the 1960s and as a solo artist who explored sexuality from a female perspective, Lee was hailed as a feminist hero. When informed of Ms. Li’s death at a Senate committee hearing, Brazilian culture minister and singer Margares Menezes was visibly moved by her, describing her as: “Revolutionary Woman”
Lee himself was a little more candid about his victory.
“When I talk about feminism and everything else, I don’t have the theory, I’m more into action,” Ms. Lee said in a 2017 television interview. “It used to be said that women shouldn’t wear long pants. What? Yes you can, I wore mine. It was often said that women couldn’t play rock. I’m going to take out my ovaries and womb and play rock’n’roll.”
Rita Lee Jones was born in São Paulo on December 31, 1947, the youngest of three daughters of Charles Jones, an American-born dentist, descended from Confederates who fled to Brazil after the Civil War. His middle name was inspired by the name of General John Jones.) Robert E. Lee), pianist Romilda Padula.
In Rita Lee: The Autobiography of Yuma (2016), Ms. Lee said she was sexually abused at home by a sewing machine repairman as a child. Her traumatic experience fueled her rebellion. .
Interested in music, she played in several groups as a teenager, and despite her initial fears, in 1966 joined the Os Mutans with brothers Arnaldo and Sergio Diaz Baptista. Formed Tess (The Mutants). In an early interview, she said the band’s name was “Inspired by a sci-fi book called ‘O Planeta dos Mutantes’ (‘Planet of the Mutants’), this work will ‘conquer the world.’ I came from another planet to do this.”
