Rhodes' maternal grandfather Dave Stamper[1] wrote songs for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1913 through 1931 and composed the music for several other Broadway shows.

From age 16 to 18, Rhodes began performing in open mic nights at Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Aural Gratification released nine Happy Rhodes albums between 1986 and 1995, including Equipoise and RhodeSongs in 1993, Building The Colossus in 1994, and The Keep in 1995.

Rhodes has cited Wendy Carlos, Kate Bush, Queen, Yes, David Bowie, Bach and Peter Gabriel as primary influences.

Her father owned a large record collection which included Bagpipe music and Switched-On Bach, by Wendy Carlos.

Rhodes has also played The Middle East Club in 1995, the Mann Theater (opening for 10,000 Maniacs)[4] and the University Museum Auditorium, both in 1992.

The lineup for "Ectofest 1999," held on September 4, 1999, consisted of Rhodes, Rachael Sage, Sloan Wainwright, Susan McKeown and the Mila Drumke Band.

Tarr and Stipak repeated the festival the next year and on September 2, 2000 "Ectofest 2000" featured Rhodes, Jessica Weiser, Anne Heaton, Amy Fairchild, Sloan Wainwright, Merrie Amsterburg and Susan McKeown.

Rhodes flew to California to perform but on the day of the concert, she accidentally cut the ring finger on her fret hand while using a Leatherman tool, and severed the deep flexor tendon, as well as causing nerve damage.

Rhodes performed 12 songs that evening sans guitar, relying on bandmates Eric Nicholas, Carl Adami, and Bob Muller to fill in her parts.

Performers at that show were Edie Carey, Mila Drumke, Trina Hamlin, Jargon Society, Rachael Sage, and Molly Zenobia.

Rhodes has received airplay and has been interviewed on radio shows such as the syndicated programs Echoes, and The World Cafe.

They recorded several co-written songs and played a few dates, but the results were not generally considered successful, and they decided to continue on their endeavors.

After having entertained several traditional record company offers, and rejecting them due to an unwillingness to give up rights to her music, Rhodes assumed production and engineering duties on the 1998 release Many Worlds Are Born Tonight.

Once the album was complete, she signed with a new label, Samson Music, and was able to tour the northeastern United States with a more elaborate stage show.

[10] While sales were far greater than her previous albums, Samson eventually decided to concentrate on their Gold Circle Films division and dropped Rhodes.

In 2018 the Chicago-based record label The Numero Group released a retrospective compilation of 18 songs titled "Happy Rhodes: Ectotrophia."