Local rocker Renita up for Josie Music Award

By Lethbridge Herald on June 11, 2025.

Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After a lifetime of devotion to her craft, Lethbridge hard rocker Renita Zintel and her band, RENZITA, have been nominated for “Group of the Year – Hard Rock /Metal” in the 11th Josie Music Awards (JMAs), which will take place in November at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. 

Despite the category name, however, Zintel says RENZITA has a distinct style that separates them from others. 

“RENZITA takes you on a roller coaster of sound…we smash the genres,” she says. “A RENZITA song may start classical and go into hard rock then metal then jazz and back to metal, we are full of surprises!”

The JMAs are a major event in the independent music industry, recognized for honoring excellence in all forms of music, including vocalists, performers, songwriters, and more.

“We were very happy to be nominated for this award, as the nominees are picked by music industry professionals in the U.S. We know we have created something special and  we have our own unique signature style and sound.”

The awards celebrate independent artists, producers, and other industry professionals. The JMA weekend includes award ceremonies, live music performances, and networking opportunities. According to the Josie Music Awards website, they are considered a major, prestigious award show within the independent music sector.

“I submitted a portfolio of our album, press and social media, and other relevant information,” says Zintel. “It is based on the merits of your work as an artist.” 

This decision went to a committee of music professionals in the U.S. and RENZITA was chosen to be nominated for Group of the Year – Hard Rock /Metal. The committee received more than 95,000 applications for 196 categories in 2025.

Born in Saskatoon, Zintel moved to Lethbridge in 2020. She says she’s been exposed to different styles of music all her life and has sung many different genres of music. Her influences include rock, blues, country, metal, grunge, folk and jazz.

“Music has always been an important part of my life,” she says. “I took classical piano as a child and took guitar lessons for a short while. I also have had some vocal training. I started writing songs in elementary school and writing lyrics in high school, then I got my first guitar at 21. “The first thing I released was a blues album, ‘Blues Breaking Out’ in 2014. It was played on FM radio in Canada under Renita Nadrowski. I have also released some pop material

“My previous band Fate Will Come, released 2 albums before I formed RENZITA in 2023.”

RENZITA is a collaboration formed in 2023 with Zintel and Texas musician Randy “Ranz” Lodder. In 2023, Lodder sent Zintel an email after hearing her sing on a track she’d written lyrics for a musician in England, Lodder had done the lead guitar on the song, Zintel added vocals and lyrics to a song he wrote, ‘Kill Another Piece Of Me,’ and after that she suggested they form a band. 

Because they knew they had a special collaboration happening, they merged their names and formed RENZITA.

“(The bad) is the best collaboration of my life,” says Zintel. “Randy and I have worked every day for the last two years to create 3 albums worth of material. No shortcuts. The only way to have success is to go over the top and work every day at your craft.”