Mia Zapata

Mia Zapata (August 25, 1965 - July 7, 1993) was the lead singer for the underground rock band The Gits. She was especially well regarded for her dynamic live performances and was also considered to be a uniqu

Mia Zapata (August 25, 1965 - July 7, 1993) was the lead singer for the underground rock band The Gits. She was especially well regarded for her dynamic live performances and was also considered to be a uniquely gifted lyricist and painter. Musically, as well as socially, Zapata was highly popular and the centre of a large circle of friends and associates. She and the other band members founded The Gits at Antioch College in the late 1980s. Zapata was reportedly fond of the music of Bessie Smith, Billie Holliday, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles and Hank Williams; television entertainers the Three Stooges; hardcore punk rock; imaginal poetry such as Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations; and the art of Egon Schiele and Willem De Kooning. She was brutally raped and murdered at the age of 27 while walking home one night in Seattle, Washington. In response to her murder, friends created a self defense group called Home Alive which exists to this day. Home Alive produced fundraising concerts and CDs with the participation of many of Seattle's music elite such as Pearl Jam, Heart, and the Presidents of the United States. Joan Jett recorded an album with the surviving members of The Gits called "Evil Stig" ("Gits Live" backwards).

A jury convicted a Florida fisherman, Jesus Mezquia, of her murder on March 25, 2004.