Her mother Lalitha Thyagarajan is a veteran illustrator and artist in Chennai and also a classical veena player while her father is employed with a popular Indian daily.
Senior Secondary School in Mylapore and moved on to do a bachelor's degree in design from Stella Maris College like her mother and sister.
Rita started her career with D. Imman, who contacted her after listening to her demo CD which she had recorded after college.
Rita has worked with music directors like Ilaiyaraaja, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Mani Sharma, D. Imman, Vidyasagar, Devi Sri Prasad, S.S. Thaman, M. Jeychandran, and M. M. Keeravani.
She also performs for stage shows in Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Sri Lanka, London, Amsterdam, France, Muscat, Canada, USA, and Australia.