Maria Rita is the performance name of Maria Rita Mariano, a Brazilian singer. She is the daughter of famed pianist/arranger César Camargo Mariano and the late Brazilian singing legend Elis Regina. She was born in São Paulo, Brazil on September 19, 1977. Her namesake is family friend and famed Brazilian rocker Rita Lee. Maria Rita majored in Latin American studies and communications at New York University, and worked as a journalist at a magazine for adolescents.

Maria Rita began singing professionally at the age of 24, although she had wanted to sing since she was 14. 'Her first CD, Maria Rita', launched her career symbolically, with the first cut on her first album, A Festa (The Party), being written by Milton Nascimento, a Brazilian singer-songwriter whose career was launched by Maria Rita's mother, Elis Regina. The CD went platinum and was a hit worldwide, making her an international star. Her mother's reputation as one of Brazil's greatest female singers has been a major influence in Maria Rita's life; she has said that she was always conscious of being the only daughter of a great singer. Despite having her mother's vocal DNA, she has developed her own jazzy vocal style, with singers like Ella Fitzgerald as her model. She won the 2004 Latin Grammy Award for Best New Artist in the General Field. Her debut album Maria Rita won the Best MPB (Musica Popular Brasileira) Album award for that year. Rita is pronounced "Hee-Ta".