Rita Lynch

Rita Lynch is a singer-songwriter from South London, with a strong connection to Bristol, whose work sits within gothic rock, alternative rock and alternative singer-songwriter traditions. She emerges from the late 1970s and 1980s punk and post-punk scene and develops a long solo career, while also working with other Bristol musicians.

Early life and beginnings

Lynch is born in South London in 1959 and attends Catholic school, where nuns teach her to play guitar. After leaving school, she starts performing in an all-girl punk band called Rita & The Piss Artists. She plays bass in that group, which she describes as an easy instrument to take up at the time. When the band splits, she joins God Bless You, again first as a bassist, before moving to vocals and sharing lead singing with Dave Ryan.

Solo career

After God Bless You fades out, Lynch turns to singer-songwriter work and forms a band to record her first album, Call Me Your Girlfriend. It is released in 1991 and toured across the UK and Europe. She continues to perform both solo and with a band, releasing a run of albums that includes Victim (1992), Alive & Unreleased (1997), All Dressed Up (2001), Junkie (2006), The Only Man (2007), Good Advice (2008), What Am I? (2010), Body Of Work (2011) and Crack On (2011).

Collaborations and live line-up

Lynch later joins the Blue Aeroplanes in 2006 and performs with them while continuing her own work. She is also a backing singer and guitarist with the Bristol band the Blue Aeroplanes. Her live performances are currently a two-piece with John Langley on drums; Langley has also played with the Blue Aeroplanes, Witness, The Mekons, Strangelove and Saturation Point.

Media, recognition and use in film and television

In the early 1990s, Lynch achieves a significant profile in the UK and becomes the subject of a Channel 4 documentary made for the Out series. Her music is used in Channel 4 drama Rosebud and in the British horror film Vampire Diary. In 2009, the Bristol and Bath entertainment magazine Venue describes her as “the personification of ferocious conviction” and names her performance at The Fleece on 13 August as Bristol’s third best gig of the year.

Compilations and singles

Her early single with God Bless You is “Sugar” b/w “Magic & Mystery” (1987). Her songs appear on a wide range of compilations, including Hidden Charms, Girls Together, Flesheaters. Return of the Undead, Flesh Fangs & Filigree, Grrl Power, Poppies: The Ultimate Peace Album, Femme Fatale - A History of Women in Popular Music, Plan 9. A Tribute to Ed Wood, Undead: A Gothic Masterpiece, Dressed to Kill Records Presents:, Gothic Erotica, The Goth Witch Project, Stiletto Vamp, Vampyre Nights, Necromantic, Undead - The Greatest Goth Album Of All Time, Live Forever, Sugar Shack Records Presents: Greatest Hits Vol. 1, Sugar Shack Records: Rock Releases, 2001-2007, Bridging The Gap. Sort Of... Benefit For The Junction Bristol, SchNEWS DVD Vol 2, Blue Aeroplanes Skyscrapers, Good Luck Signs and Anti-Gravity. Tracks credited include “Call Me Your Girlfriend”, “Stripped Right Away”, “Rock & Roll Lifestyle”, “Rolla Coasta”, “Baby I Wonder”, “Delight”, “Beautiful Eyes”, “It Feels Like The End of the World”, “Far Away”, “Fallen For You”, “Just A Lifetime” and “Losing”.

Style and reputation

Her sound is described as combining PJ Harvey and At The Drive-In, with the dark ambience often associated with Bristol music. She retains a devoted following and continues to record and perform.