Rita grew up in Big Pond, Cape Breton with three brothers and four sisters. Often chaotic, her youth included the physical and psychological trauma of surgery for a cleft palate, a first love affair that left her with a child and a broken heart, a marriage breakdown and numerous frustrating attempts to kick-start a musical career. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to find work in the music business, Rita MacNeil found inspiration in the women's movement. In 1989, at the Juno Awards, she and the Men of the Deeps performed Working Man and brought down the house. Her 1993 CBC TV Christmas special, One Upon A Christmas, drew 2 million viewers and her musical variety show Rita & Friends (winner of the 1996 Gemini Award) attracted 1 million viewers a week over three seasons.