Profil

Personal profile

Rita Redshoes surprised the world with her amazing talent last year when she released "Dream on Girl" through her Myspace site. At once, magical and daring, Rita’s voice became part of the daily playlist and the song became one of the most successful Portuguese hits of 2007. Like many teenagers, Rita began her musical path in a garage band at age of 15 in a group called Atomic Bees. They recorded an album "love.noises.and.kisses" and toured the country – they opened for The Cranberries in Lisbon and even then, she was becoming very popular with audiences. Following the success of "Dream on Girl", Rita was invited to be on a compilation album of new artists (Novos Talentos – FNAC 2007") and her contribution quickly became a single. The cut was picked up immediately by radio and was named song of the year by one Portuguese station. The media recognised her amazing talent and the video was a huge success, indicating her rebirth to the world. It became one of the most viewed clips on the Sapo website and this success led to Rita Redshoes being chosen to officially open the Portuguese MySpace. In 2003, she was invited to play with David Fonseca, one of Portugal’s most talented singer-songwriters. She duetted on the song "Hold Still", the third single from his second album "Our Hearts Will Beat As One". Since then she has toured with David and also participated on the recordings of his latest collection, "Dreams in Colour". Rita Redshoes started to perform live as David Fonseca's opening act during the tour to promote that release. Rita’s album "Golden Era" was released in March 2008 and it went directly into the Portuguese Top 10 after the first week of release. It remained there for several weeks and become one of the most successful debuts by a new artist ever. The gem "Hey Tom" was chosen as the first single. The first live show to promote the album was at one of Lisbon’s most prestigious clubs – MusicBox. The crowd was eager to see her and the queue to get in stretched all around the building! This became a familiar sight since almost every concert she plays is sold out. Rita Redshoes did all the composition, piano, synths and some of the guitars on “Golden Era” and the project was a co-production between her and Nelson Carvalho. The video for "The Beginning Song" was inspired by 50's and 60's country music television shows like The Grand Ole Opry and it revealed some of the lady's influences. The clip became an instant MTV favourite and the song remains a staple of Portuguese radio. Since "Golden Era's" was released, Rita has played more than 40 gigs and has also performed at several festivals, sharing the stage with international artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Goldfrapp and Tindersticks. Ms Redshoes also opened for The Shout Out Louds in Lisbon. Rita Redshoes was nominated for the MTV European Music Awards for Best Portuguese Act and won the "Best Newcomer" award from radio station, "Radio Clube Português". Internationally, the nomination for the Spanish POP-EYE de la Música 2009 award indicated how global her music can be. This is also reflected by her presence at the EuroSonic Noorderslag in Groningen – Netherlands and at the prestigious SXSW – South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, in March 2009. Her song "Choose Love" was chosen to be the soundtrack of a new Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign called: "Fashion Targets Breast Cancer". In November 2008, she was chosen by the British band Keane to opening act on their Lisbon. Rita Redshoes was also nominated for “Best Newcomer 2008” of the Portuguese “Golden Globe” awards. In May 2009, the singer-songwriter played at one of Lisbon’s most charismatic venues: S. Jorge. The first concert sold out so quickly that a second night was quickly scheduled. The concerts were prepared in great detail: a new visual approach to synch with the music. The show featured video backdrops and dancers. It was a resounding success and the critics were unanimous about the power of the performances. Meanwhile “Golden Era” was awarded a Gold Record for 10,000 units sold making it one of the best selling domestic debut albums. The summer continued with several shows from North to South including the Azores Islands but the highlight was at the opening of Festival dos Oceanos (Oceans Festival) in Belém – Lisbon. Rita played to an audience of 35,000 and had a very special guest: Daniel Bacelar, a singer from the 60’s that was known as the Portuguese Ricky Nelson. She sang “Lonesome Town” and “I’ve got a Feeling” with him. Ms Redshoes was invited to team up for two songs (“Lonesome Town” and “Hey, Hey Sister Ray”), on The Legendary Tigerman’s (Paulo Furtado) fourth album “Femina” – a project that brings together many female collaborators such as Asia Argento, Maria de Medeiros and Peaches, amongst others. Furthermore, it was also with The Legendary Tigerman that Rita appeared in MOTELx – a horror movie film festival held in Lisbon where they composed and played live the soundtrack for the 30’s movie “A Dança dos Paradoxismos” by Jorge Brum do Canto. In November 2009, “Golden Era” went international: It has been released in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland by the Finnish label, Fading Ways. Both “The Beginning Song” and “Choose Love” have enjoyed airplay on P4 (Dansk Radio) and P3 (Sveriges Radio) respectively. “Golden Era” was also released in BeNeLux territories in the beginning of 2010. “Lights & Darks” is Rita Redshoes’s second album and is released in early June, her songs brings us a more mature, direct and a more loose artist, confirming the great singer-songwriter she is. With 14 songs entirely composed by Rita Redshoes, “Lights & Darks” was produced by Redshoes and Nelson Carvalho. For this album Rita and Filipe Cunha Monteiro on the guitars and bass (her long time musician – since Atomic Bees); and Rui Freire on drums and percussions, recorded the basis instrumentation for “Lights & Darks”. She also had a handful of guests: Dana Colley, Morhine’s sax player on “One Cold Day”; Pedro Gonçalves (Dead Combo) on double bass on four songs, the guitars of Paulo Furtado (The Legendary Tigerman) and Ricardo Fiel (ex-Phase, David Fonseca) on “One Cold Day”; Paulo Borges, one of the bands musician, playing piano on “It’s A Honeymoon” and “Marching In This Life”; and also José Pino, a Portuguese guitar player from the 60’s on “The Blue Jeans Band”, em “It’s A Honeymoon”. “Lights & Darks” had also a special edition with a bonus DVD with 13 short films with the album songs as soundtrack. This piece is called “Thirteen Films About Lights & Darks” and has short films directed by Bruno Pereira, Unit Collective, José Manuel Abrantes, João Pedro Moreira, David Fonseca, Paulo Furtado, Filipe Cunha Monteiro, Joana Faria/Quioto, Pedro Maia, The Question Mark, Augusto Brázio, André Cepeda and also by Rita Redshoes. After playing on the prestigious festival “Peace & Love” in Borlänge, Sweden (Patty Smith, Julian Casablancas, The Kooks, Mika, Vampire Weekend, amongst others were part of the roster), and a memorable concert in the Portuguese festival “Super Bock Super Rock”, Rita Redshoes made two very special "Lights & Darks" live presentations at Aula Magna (Lisbon) and Hard Club (Oporto). These concerts had detailed and singular scenery and also two special guests: The Legendary Tigerman and Ricardo Fiel (Rita’s ex-partner in David Fonseca’s band). 2011 starts with the tour “Lights & Darks” crossing the country. Meanwhile, Rita Redshoes returns to the stages with The Legendary Tigerman on his “Femina” Tour in France. Furthermore, it’s with Paulo Furtado she divides the soundtrack of the play “O Jogador” (debuted in S. Luiz Theatre – Lisboa) and of the Rodrigo Areias movie “Estrada de Palha”. She also performed at the Europavox Festival in Clermont-Ferrand (France). In June, a year after its release, “Lights & Darks” – Ultimate Edition is made public. It includes the DVD “Into Lights & Darks” – a documentary directed by Rita Redshoes, were during almost an hour she shows the albums creative process, deconstructing the songs, showing influences, and opening the door to her home studio. This DVD also contains cuts from de Aula Magna concert (October 2010) and the videos “Captain Of My Soul”, “You Should Go”, “It’s a Honeymoon” – Home.Love.Video", “Bad Lila” and also the duet with The Legendary Tigerman on “Fever”.

Company profile