(30 September 1960 - 3 July 1996) (his death) (2 children)
In the Netherlands, Rita started to perform more regularly with the trio of pianist Pim Jacobs, whom she already knew from his playing with Wessel. After a show in the city of Groningen, during the drive back home in a minivan, he suddenly proposed to her, while guitarist Wim Overgaauw and Pim’s brother, bassist Ruud Jacobs, were sleeping in the back. Their "marriage in jazz" even made news headlines. On their wedding day, the mayor of Hilversum (one of the Dutch music ’headquarters’) presented the happy couple with the first copy of their album Marriage in Modern Jazz (the album that would win Rita her first Edison award).
That same year, Rita and the Pim Jacobs Trio won the Juan Les Pins Jazz Festival in France, where Rita was named Europe’s first lady of jazz, a title she would carry with grace for the rest of her career. The 1960s ended with one of the greatest high points in Rita’s career: in 1969 she was the first Dutch jazz singer to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, where she played with, among others, Zoot Sims and Milt Hinton, accompanied by Pim on piano. She became a Citizen of Honor of New Orleans in 1980.
In the 1980s, Rita returned to classical American Songbook jazz, recording albums such as Memories Of You with the Lex Jasper orchestra. In 1985, Rita was diagnosed with breast cancer, but made a quick and full recovery. After severe medical treatment and having recuperated for weeks, she gave a sold-out performance at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, which signaled her comeback on stage. In 1986, Rita recorded the Christmas album Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas with the Pim Jacobs Trio and the Metropole Orchestra conducted by Rogier van Otterloo. It would be her last album with Rogier, as he died two years later.
That same year, Rita had been nominated for a Bird Award, which she finally received at the 1991 North Sea Jazz Festival, in addition to an American Songbook Award. She received a certificate of appreciation from the American Ambassador in The Hague for her achievements.[citation needed] In 1992 she released two double albums, Rita Reys, The American Songbook, Volumes 1 & 2. These would be the last albums she recorded with Pim, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1995. As a result, the tour celebrating Rita’s 70th birthday was cancelled and a long path of medical treatment ensued. Despite this, Pim died on 3 July 1996 at the age of 61. Ten days after his death, Rita collected the Bird Award on his behalf, promising to make a comeback "as Pim would want me to".