Rita Redshoes surprised her native country of Portugal with her talent when she released, through her MySpace website, a song called "Dream on Girl". Magical and daring at the same time, her voice became part of our daily play list, making this one of the most successful Portuguese songs in the year 2007.
Like many teenagers, she began her musical path in a garage band at age of 15, in a band called Atomic Bees who actually recorded an album "love.noises.and.kisses", and toured the country – and were the opening act of The Cranberries’ concert in Lisbon. Even back then, her voice was already a crowd favourite.
All the success gained with "Dream on Girl" made her one of the artists chosen to be part of a musical newcomers’ album (Novos Talentos – FNAC 2007) and quickly became its single. The song, which started to harness immediate airplay, was named song of the year by one of the Portuguese stations, and the media recognized her undeniable talent. The video was a huge success, showing the country her "rebirth", Redshoes investing new life in her music. It became one of the most watched videos on Portuguese web platform Sapo and all this success made her the chosen artist to officially open the Portuguese MySpace.
Since 2003, she had been invited to perform with David Fonseca, one of the most established Portuguese singer-songwriters, and shared with him the song "Hold Still", the third single of "Our Hearts Will Beat As One", his second solo album. Since then she has been touring with him, and has also participated on the recordings of his last successful album "Dreams in Colour". Rita Redshoes started performing live as David Fonseca's opening act during the presentation tour: "Dreams in Colour Live".
"Golden Era", her debut album, was released in March 2008, and went directly to the top 10 of the Portuguese charts on the first week of release, remaining there for several weeks and becoming one of the most successful debut albums ever in Portugal. "Hey Tom", one of its gems, was the chosen single. The presentation concert was in one of the most prestigious clubs in Lisbon – MusicBox – the crowd was so eager to see her, that the queue surrounded the building! A sight that became familiar, since almost every concert after that has sold out the venues.
On "Golden Era" Rita Redshoes authored and composed her songs, playing the piano, synths and some of the guitars. The production was shared between her and Nelson Carvalho. In April, it was time for "The Beginning Song", whose video was inspired on the 50's and 60's country music television shows, like the Grand Ole Opry, revealing some of Redshoes’ musical influences. It instantly became an MTV favourite. This song is still one of the most played on the Portuguese radios.
Meanwhile, since "Golden Era's" release, Miss Redshoes has done more than 40 gigs and has played in several festivals, sharing the stage with international artists such as The Chemichal Brothers, Goldfrapp and Tindersticks. She was also Shout Out Louds’ opening act in their concert in Lisbon.
Rita Redshoes was nominated for the MTV European Music Awards for Best Portuguese Act and won the "Best Newcomer" award from the Portuguese radio "Radio Clube Português". Internationally, the nomination for the Spanish POP-EYE de la Música 2009 award hinted at how global her music can be, also demonstrated 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". Last November she was chosen by the British band Keane to be the opening act on their European tour concert in Lisbon. Rita Redshoes was also nominated for “Best Newcomer 2008” of the Portuguese Awards “Golden Globes”.
In May 2009, the singer-songwriter had a huge debut in one of Lisbon’s most charismatic venues: the S. Jorge Theatre. The first date was so quickly sold out that a second date was opened – and also sold out! These concerts were prepared in detail: new visual approaches in synch with Rita’s music, not only with video but also with the on-stage performance by 4 dancers. The critics were unanimous: two great performances.
Meanwhile “Golden Era” reached the Gold Record award for 10.000 units sold becoming one of the most successful newcomers’ albums. The summer continued with several concerts from north to south including the Azores Islands, but the highlight was the concert at the opening of Festival dos Oceanos (Oceans Festival) in Belém – Lisbon, where she performed for 35.000 people and had a very special guest: Daniel Bacelar, a singer from the 60’s that was known as the Portuguese Ricky Nelson and with whom she sang “Lonesome Town” and “I’ve got a Feeling”.
After an intense year… Rita Redshoes promises news for 2009!
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