Download Free Rufus Wainwright Songs

Rufus Wainwright music biography continued...

Canada, on July 22, 1973 to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III. Rufus began playing the piano at age six, and started touring at thirteen with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family", a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna. His song, "I'm a-Runnin'", which he performed in the movie, Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award for Best Original Song. He was also nominated for a 1990 Canadian Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year. Soon after, he began by performing at local Montreal nightspots. He self-produced a demo tape of his work and, through family connections, managed to put the tape before record executive Lenny Waronker, who had just established the music production wing of DreamWorks Studios. The eventual result was Wainwright's' 1998 self-titled album. The album was an immediate critical success. In Canada, Wainwright was awarded with a Juno for Best Alternative Album. Across the border, he was named Best New Artist by Rolling Stone magazine. While Wainwright spent the next few years touring and appearing sporadically on soundtracks (Shrek) and compilations (The McGarrigle Hour). His sophomore album, Poses, brought similar acclaim in mid-2001, clearly establishing him as an artist in his own right.



After working with a new producer, Wainwright came out with Want One in September 2003, with Want Two following a year later. In 2007, Wainwright released both Release the Stars and Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. Following his 2007-2008 tour, Wainwright began writing his first opera, Prima Donna, which he says will be about "a day in the life of an opera singer", anxiously preparing for her comeback, who falls in love with a journalist. It's apparent from his career choices that Wainwright does not want to be pigeonholed. And about his pop career, one critic said: "The characters that populate Wainwright's songs comment self-deprecatingly on their excesses, creating dark comedy without delving into the petty angst that tends to permeate contemporary pop." It's apparent that Wainwright is different than your typical pop singer/songwriter—and that's why his fans love him.