User:Ritabatiste

Rita started playing classical piano at age 5 and started composing her own songs at the age of 8. She received a guitar for her 10th Christmas and started playing in the church choir and singing harmony. Rita was born in Honolulu, HI. and spent her earliest years growing up in Japan. Her mother is Japanese and her father is Spanish/Navajo. Her family was a nomadic military family where each one of them played a musical instrument. Music has always been a big part of Rita's life and it was always a way for her to escape and allowed her to be creative in expressing her life experiences. As much as the family moved, music was something she could own and count on and gave her the freedom to express her feelings. Rita started performing at piano recitals at an early age of 6 and in church. Much of her adolescence was spent performing in vocal choirs and ensembles and high school plays and spending her alone time in front of the piano scribbling out melodies and lyrics. One of her first compositions won the “I Have A Dream” contest at her high school and she was ranked 9th Soprano in the Texas State Choir. Her song “Painting Circles” won the Dallas Songwriters Association Honorable Mention in 1993 in Texas. Rita went on to attend the University of North Texas where she got a degree in Film. She decided to go back to school and did two years at the UNT School of Music. After many hours of practicing and a rigorous curriculum Rita decided that the school was making her a technical songwriter and she was loosing the joy of composing for fun. Rita has sung in many bands with the genres ranging from Pop, Jazz, Funk and R&B. She is always trying to develop her skills as a songwriter, vocalist and performer and attended the UNT Jazz Vocal Workshop last summer working with Paris Rutherford, Michelle Weir and many others. Rita can be seen performing at local venues, festivals, parties and coffee shops on a regular basis. Rita is married to world class drummer David Russell Batiste, Jr. Rita was singing in her husbands band Russell Batiste & Friends and performing with her own band TRIM in New Orleans. Rita recently relocated to Boulder, CO. where she is singing with a reggae band.