Rita Lee – Rita Lee in Concert at Coliseu dos Recreios in Portugal – July 1, 2008 – Coliseu dos Recreios – Lisbon, Portugal – Photo Credit: Rui M. Leal / PR Photos
Birth Name: Rita Lee Jones
Place of Birth: São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Date of Birth: December 31, 1947
Ethnicity:
*English (father)
*Italian (mother)
Rita Lee is a Brazilian rock singer and composer. She is known for being a member of Brazilian rock band Os Mutantes.
Rita is the daughter of Romilda “Chesa” (Padula/Padulla) and Charles Fenley/Finley Jones. Rita has two sisters, Mary Lee and Virginia Lee. They were raised Catholic.
Rita’s father had recent American ancestry and descended from the Confederados (about 20,000 Confederate American refugees who fled to Brazil after the American Civil War). Rita’s mother was born in Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil, to Italian parents from Naples.
Rita’s paternal grandfather was Cicero/Cisero Byrd Jones (the son of Kyrd Jones and Caroline). Cicero was born in Alabama.
Rita has written on her autobiography Rita Lee: uma autobiografia (2016) that her grandfather Cicero’s father had Scottish ancestry, and that Cicero’s mother had Cherokee Native American roots. It is not clear whether these ancestries have been verified/documented.
Rita’s paternal grandmother was Martha Whitaker Norris (the daughter of Robert Cicero Norris and Martha Temperance Steagall). Rita’s grandmother Martha was born in Santa Bárbara D’Oeste, São Paulo, Brazil. Rita’s great-grandfather Robert was born in Alabama, the son of William Hutchinson Norris and Mary Black. Rita’s great-grandmother Martha was born in Tennessee, the daughter of Henry Farrar Steagall and Delia Elizabeth Peck.
Rita’s maternal grandmother was Clorinda “Rita” Inforato/Inforzato.
Sources: Genealogy of Rita Lee (focusing on her father’s side) – http://www.geni.com
Rita’s paternal grandfather on the 1880 U.S. Census – http://www.familysearch.org