Her name is Rio: Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran explains 'Rio' song to 9-year-old girl named Rio

Rio Ricardo, a Dade City fourth-grader, had a personal question for Simon Le Bon, Duran Duran lead singer and lyricist.

“What was the inspiration for the song ‘Rio’?” the 9-year-old asked Le Bon, standing next to her chair amid a ballroom audience.

Rio was named for the Duran Duran hit. "Rio" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard chart in May 1983 — but today, the catchy tune is one of Duran Duran's most recognizable songs.

Le Bon, whose band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, made a fireside chat-style appearance Thursday during the Brevard Cultural Alliance's 2019 Cultural Summit at Hilton Melbourne Rialto Place.

He explained to Rio that her namesake song's origins trace to a café in Birmingham, England.

Celebrity sighting:Simon Le Bon of '80s band Duran Duran in Melbourne

Celebrity sighting:Robert De Niro visits Pier 220, calls ahead for 'Robert De Niro'

Sexiest Man Alive:George Clooney dons tux for Kennedy Space Center event

“I was in this café with my flatmates, and I started watching this waitress who was on the floor going around from table to table to table. And I became mesmerized by the way she was moving," Le Bon said.

"It was almost like a dance, the way she’d go to the hatch where they had the food and the drinks she was serving. She’d come back with a tray and go to these different tables. It reminded me a bit of a bee going to different flowers,” he said.

“I was so fascinated, I wrote that line, ‘Moving on the floor now babe you’re a bird in paradise,’” he said.

Before Le Bon finished writing "Rio," Duran Duran went to America for the first time.

“I was absolutely blown away by this incredible country, by the scope of it. By the scope of all the different cultures and color, the languages, the music. Everything about it. We as a band fell in love with this country, completely and utterly, and have been ever since then,” Le Bon said.

“I suddenly thought that ‘Rio’ could be something more than just a girl. It could be a much bigger thing. So I really wrote it about the United States of America," he said, triggering a round of applause.

Rio's mother, Jill Ricardo, cried while Le Bon addressed her daughter, saying, “Simon, you’re the best.”

"I've been a fan since 1982. First song I heard on the radio was 'Hungry Like the Wolf," and I fell in love," Jill — who has seen Duran Duran more than 30 times — said after the event.

"When I was 14, I said, 'Someday I'm going to have a little girl, and I'm going to name her Rio.' When she was 3 days old, the song came on the radio in the car — and I held my breath through the entire first verse until the chorus came on," Jill recalled.

"I was like, 'Yes! Yes!' It was totally the right decision," she said.

Jill said Rio fell asleep during a Duran Duran concert at the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in Tampa when she was only 6, but Rio disputed that claim.

Neale is the South Brevard watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. 

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1

Support local journalism: Subscribe to FLORIDA TODAY at floridatoday.com/subscribe.