Rita

Rita started her musical career in an army singing troupe, “IDF 80” during which she preformed in a duo “Rami & Rita”, with Rami Kleinstein, a young musician. Roni Brown, then the VP of CBS records, attended one of the shows during the first Lebanon war, and was mesmerized by the 2 artists, inviting them to sing in the soundtrack of the movie “The Pnimiya”. After her discharge from the IDF at 1982, Rita started acting school at “Beit Zvi”. Rita says that “the 3 years of school were very intense but contributed a lot to shaping me as an artist.” in 1985, during Rita’s school and following Her and Rami’s impressive work, both were signed as core talents of a new label – “Helicon”. Rami, as the local wonder boy, and Rita as a rare vocalist and exceptional stage persona. At the end of 1985 Rita released her first single “Bgida”: lyrics by Yael Tevet and composed by Rami Kleinstein. With over 120 hours of studio recordings invested in the single, “Bgida” went straight to number one in the charts of all radio stations in Israel and kept its status for more than 2 months. This was an unprecedent achievement for an unknown singer who was still attending acting school. it was also the first time the Israeli public was exposed to Rita’s outstanding vocals. In 1986, following her tremendous success of her first singles, Rita was invited to take part in the “pre Eurovision” for the chance to represent Israel in the international Eurovision song contest. Rita’s unforgettable performance of the song “Shvil Ha’Bricha”, made her overnight, the most talked about superstar, impressing the Israeli public with her unique quality and performance. The same year Rita debuted with an album bearing her name “Rita”, which till this day holds the incredible record of best selling debut album of all times. Produced in an unprecedented investment, the album brought a fresh and new musical arrangements that produced an international standards of sound quality. Rami Kleinstein, along with Reuven Shapira and Naor Dayan, produced and arranged most songs, while Rita herself wrote 3 texts. The album achieved triple platinum status. Following the immense success of her debut album, Rita decided to take the lead role of Eliza Doolittle in the Israeli production of “My Fair Lady”, a role she knew well from acting school. Rita says: “the success of the album was crazy and they wanted me to perform in parks and arenas. People will come to the park to hear just 10 songs? I felt it was too early, that’s why I decided that I don’t want to have a concert before a second album and more songs in my repertoire. “My Fair Lady” came right on time – an amazing musical, a familiar place and a chance to meet the public.” The musical showed for several months in Tel Aviv with great success and the songs were recorded on an album. That year Rita first (but not last) earned the title of “best female singer” in the charts. In 1987 Rita released her first international album “Breaking Those Walls” which included English versions of her debut album and a cover of “Roxanne” by Police. In March 1988 Rita released her second album “Yemei Ha’Tom” which till this day is considered by critics to be a masterpiece. The critically acclaimed album achieved many accoladed and it was the first Israeli album to reach golden status on the day of its release. Eventually, the album reached a triple platinum status, selling a total of 120,000 copies. Following the success of “Yemei Ha’Tom”, Rita launched her first tour which was a distinct expression of her career path. The tour made history as the most successful in Israel and ran more than 400 times throughout 3.5 years. Produced by Louie Lahav, the tour presented Rita’s extraordinary vocals and performance, making her the undisputed queen of Israeli pop. In 1990, the second decade of Rita’s career, she stared in the Israeli production of “Taming of the shrew”. That same year she was chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision song contest