Kate and Anna McGarrigle

Kate (February 6, 1946 – January 18, 2010) and Anna (born December 4, 1944) McGarrigle, were a pair of Canadian singer-songwriters from Quebec, who performed as a duo until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.

Profile

Anna McGarrigle and Kate McGarrigle were born in Montreal of mixed English and French-Canadian background, but lived their childhood in the Laurentian Mountains village of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Québec, northwest of Montreal, where they learned piano from village nuns. In the 1960s, in Montreal, while Kate was studying engineering at McGill University and Anna art at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, they began performing in public and then began writing their own songs. From 1963-1967 they teamed up Jack Nissenson and Peter Weldon to form the folk group Mountain City Four. Kate and Anna McGarrigle continued to write, and recorded and performed music into the twenty first century with assorted accompanying musicians including: Gerry Conway, Pat Donaldson, Ken Pearson, Michel Pépin, Chaim Tannenbaum, and Joel Zifkin.

Their songs have been covered by a variety of artists including Maria Muldaur, Nana Mouskouri, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Billy Bragg, Chloé Sainte-Marie, Judy Collins, Anne Sofie von Otter, and others. The covers of their songs by well known artists led to the McGarrigles getting their first recording contract in 1974. They created ten albums from 1975 through 2008.

Although associated with Quebec's anglophone community, the McGarrigles also recorded and performed many songs in French. Two of their albums, Entre la jeunesse et la sagesse (also known as French Record) and La vache qui pleure, are entirely in French, but many of their other records include one or two French songs as well. Most of their French songs were co-written by Philippe Tatartcheff, with occasional input from Kate McGarrigle's son, Canadian-American solo artist Rufus Wainwright. Rufus and his sister Martha Wainwright, also a singer, are the children of Kate and her former husband (married 1971, separated 1976, divorced 1978), singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.

They have performed or recorded with the Irish group The Chieftains, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on their No More Shall We Part album, Emmylou Harris on her albums Bluebird, Wrecking Ball, Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, Light of the Stable, Stumble into Grace, and All I Intended to Be, Lou Reed on his concept album The Raven, Joan Baez on her live recording Ring Them Bells, Gilles Vigneault on “Charlie-Jos” on his album C’est ainsi que j’arrive à toi, and Robin Holcomb on her 2002 album The Big Time.

Their version of Wade Hemsworth's song, "The Log Driver's Waltz" grew famous as the soundtrack for a 1979 animated film by the National Film Board. They provided backing vocals on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds's 2001 album No More Shall We Part. They appeared on the children's TV show Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show in Season 4, episode 50 titled "Sibling Rivalry".

They were appointed Members of the Order of Canada in 1993 and received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2004.^[1][2]

Another sister, Jane McGarrigle, is a film and television composer who wrote and performed several songs with the duo, but was not a regular collaborator.

Kate died January 18, 2010 after fighting a rare form of cancer. She was 63 years old.^[3][4][5]

Discography

Albums

• 1975 - Kate and Anna McGarrigle
• 1977 - Dancer with Bruised Knees
• 1978 - Pronto Monto
• 1981 - Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse (French Record)
• 1982 - Love Over and Over
• 1990 - Heartbeats Accelerating
• 1996 - Matapédia (winner of 1997 Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year - Group)
• 1998 - The McGarrigle Hour (winner of 1999 Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year - Group)
• 2003 - La vache qui pleure
• 2005 - The McGarrigle Christmas Hour
• 2010 - ODDiTTiES
• 2011 - Tell My Sister

Other contributions

• 1991 - Songs of the Civil War - "Was My Brother in the Battle?", "Better Times Are Coming", "Hard Times Come Again No More"
• 1992 - 'Til Their Eyes Shine (The Lullaby Album) - "Lullaby For A Doll"
• 1999 - Live at the World Café - Volume 9 - "DJ Serenade"
• 2006 - Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man Soundtrack - "Winter Lady" (with Martha Wainwright)
• 2008 - Northern Songs: Canada's Best and Brightest - "Entre Lajeunesse et la Sagesse"

See also

• List of Quebec musicians
• Music of Quebec
• Culture of Quebec
• Joel Zifkin

References

1. ^ Betty Nygaard King. "McGarrigle, Kate and Anna". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Thecanadianencyclopedia.com. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0002283. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
2. ^ Clarkson, Adrienne (November 5, 2004). "Speech on the Occasion of the Presentation of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards". Archive.gg.ca. http://archive.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4306. Retrieved January 24, 2010. 
3. ^ Russell, Tony (January 19, 2010). "Kate McGarrigle obituary". The Guardian (London, England). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/19/kate-mcgarrigle-obituary. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
4. ^ "Kate McGarrigle". The Telegraph. London, England. 2010-01-20. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/7029783/Kate-McGarrigle.html. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
5. ^ Robert Everett-Green. "Goodbye sweet harmony". The Globe and Mail, January 19, 2010.

External links

• Kate and Anna McGarrigle's official web site
• Encyclopedia bio
• Hochman, Steve (February 24, 1997). "McGarrigles' Insight Improves With Age". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1997-02-24/entertainment/ca-31895_1_anna-mcgarrigle. Retrieved June 6, 2011.