Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on December 31, 1… Read Full Bio ↴Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on December 31, 1947, and passed away in her hometown on May 8, 2023. Best known as Rita Lee, was a Brazilian MPB singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, actress, writer, TV host and animals rights activist of American and Italian descent, being regarded as the "Queen of Brazilian Rock".

Rita helped to incorporate the rock revolution into the creative explosion of tropicalismo, formed the most celebrated Brazilian rock band in the world, Os Mutantes, and created solo songs with enormous popular appeal without losing her freedom and irreverence.

Former member of the group Os Mutantes (1966 — 1972) and leader of the band Tutti Frutti (1973 — 1978), Lee participated in important revolutions in the world of music and society, such as the Tropicália movement during the Brazilian dictatorship, which led her to be the artist with the most censored songs in Brazil during that period. Her songs, usually watered with an acid irony or with a claim for female independence and sexual topics, became ubiquitous in the charts. The album, Fruto Proibido (1975), released together with the band Tutti Frutti, is commonly seen as a fundamental milestone in the history of Brazilian rock, considered by some as her masterpiece.

In 1976, Lee began a romantic relationship with guitarist Roberto de Carvalho and since then he has been the partner on most of her songs and accompanied her in all her live performances. They had three children, including Beto Lee, also a guitarist, who accompanies his parents in concerts. With a career that has reached 50 years, Rita Lee has gone from the musical innovation of the late 1960s and 1970s to the highly successful romantic ballads of the 1980s. In October 2008, Rolling Stone magazine promoted the List of the 100 Greatest Artists in Brazilian Music, where Rita Lee ranks 15th.

In 2001, Rita Lee won the Latin Grammy for Best Portuguese Language Rock Album with "3001". She would receive five more nominations for the award and in 2022, she was awarded the Musical Excellence award for her body of work. In 2012, she announced that she would retire from performing live due to physical frailty. "I retire from shows, but never from music," she wrote on Twitter.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and had been undergoing treatment for the disease. She passed away in her hometown of São Paulo at the age of 75 on May 8, 2023.

corista de rock
Rita Lee Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Disseram que o palco não é mais aquele lugar
Mas do jeito que a gente me olha de frente
Como eu vou parar?
Pois eu sou corista num grupo de rock
Que tem pra valer
Um ponto de vista que não se limita
De ser ou não ser
Prefiro ser os dois

Não venha me dizer do meu compromisso
Com isso ou aquilo
Se o que a gente quer
Não deixa de ser um belo motivo
Pra se festejar de modo indiscreto
O que vai nascer
E todas as histórias
Que o mundo imagina pra sobreviver
Prefiro não saber

O que eu era ou sou por enquanto
É tudo aquilo que eu digo e canto

Com um pouco de espanto
Num palco ou num canto

Overall Meaning

In the song "Corista de Rock", Rita Lee and Roberto de Carvalho are discussing the nature of the music industry and how it imposes limitations upon artists. The lyrics express the conflict between the artistic desire for creative freedom and the commercial pressure to conform to industry standards.

The song is about a background singer in a rock band who is unapologetically proud of her job. She challenges the notion that the stage is no longer relevant, and declares that the band she performs with has a point of view that goes beyond being or not being. She goes on to say that she prefers to be both, and refuses to be bound by the restrictions that society imposes on her.

The lyrics also address the notion of commitment and how it can be viewed in different ways. While some may see her job as a corista de rock as a frivolous indulgence, she views it as a beautiful reason to celebrate and to live life with abandon. She acknowledges that there are many stories and truths in the world, but she prefers not to know them, and instead embraces the mystery and uncertainty of the stage and life itself.

Line by Line Meaning

Disseram que o palco não é mais aquele lugar
People say that the stage is not the same anymore

Mas do jeito que a gente me olha de frente
But the way people look at me head-on

Como eu vou parar?
How can I stop?

Pois eu sou corista num grupo de rock
Because I am a backup singer in a rock band

Que tem pra valer
That really has it all

Um ponto de vista que não se limita
A perspective that is not limited

De ser ou não ser
To be or not to be

Prefiro ser os dois
I prefer to be both

Não venha me dizer do meu compromisso
Don't come and tell me about my commitment

Com isso ou aquilo
With this or that

Se o que a gente quer
If what we want