Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho

Rita Lee Jones was born in São Paulo to an American dentist father and an Italian-Brazilian mother. In 1966, she formed the psychedelic rock band Os Mutantes with Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Dias. Os Mutantes became the vanguard of the Tropicália countercultural movement, collaborating with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil to fuse Beatles-esque psychedelia with Brazilian rhythms and playful avant-garde experimentalism.

Embarking on a solo career in the 1970s alongside her musical partner and husband Roberto de Carvalho, Rita Lee transformed Brazilian pop music. With her fiery red hair, cheeky humor, and unapologetic feminist lyrics exploring female pleasure, independence, and taboos, she released sensational albums like Fruto Proibido (1975) and hits like "Mania de Você," "Lança Perfume," "Ovelha Negra," and "Baila Comigo." Prince famously praised "Lança Perfume" as one of his favorite songs. She won multiple Latin Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, and was mourned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as one of the greatest artists in Brazilian history.