Rita Mills Explained

Rita Mills
Birth Date:25 August 1935
Birth Place:Naghir Island, Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia
Death Date:December 2004
Death Place:Cairns, Queensland, Australia
Genre:Folk
Years Active:19752001
Associated Acts:Mills Sisters

Rita Mills (25 August 1935 – 8 December 2004), also known as Rita Fell Rita Tyrell, and Rita Fell-Tyrell, was an Australian singer from the Torres Strait Islands. She was one of the band the Mills Sisters.

Biography

Mills was born in 1934 on Naghir Island in Torres Strait.[1] She lived on Thursday Island, and during World War II was temporarily evacuated to the mainland.

Rita was one of the Mills Sisters with her twin sisters Cessa and Ina.[2] All three sisters sang, and Rita played guitar in their band.[3] After the twins retired in 1996, Rita continued her solo career.[4]

After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2000 she moved to Cairns,[5] retiring in 2001[6] and she died on 8 December 2004.[7] [8]

Personal life

As of 1970 she was married to Jack Fell.[9] She was later also known as Rita Tyrell[10] and Rita Fell-Tyrell.[11]

Discography

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. News: Sunday Herald Sun. 11 March 2001. Rita calls it a day, at last. Stewart, Paul.
  2. News: Australian Associated Press. General News. 28 March 2003. Better late than never for Uncle Seaman. Baker, Jordan.
  3. The Australian, 13 December 2004, "Trailblazer sang Torres on to map" by Steve Connolly
  4. Australian Associated Press General News, 28 March 2003, "Better late than never for Uncle Seaman" by Jordan Baker
  5. News: The Australian. 8 September 2001. Northern Delights. Pryor, Cathy.
  6. News: Cairns Post. 31 August 2001. Sunnies select Cairns.
  7. News: The Australian. 13 December 2004. Trailblazer sang Torres on to map. Connolly, Steve.
  8. Web site: Tributes for Mills Sister . . 8 December 2004 . 26 April 2022.
  9. Web site: Torres News (1957-2015) available online . . 3 October 2019 . 30 April 2022.
  10. Web site: Rita Mills . . 30 April 2022.
  11. Web site: Message Stick - Frangipani Land Forever . . 9 March 2015 . 30 April 2022.

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