Canadian folksinger-songwriter Kate McGarrigle, who performed with her sister Anna as the McGarrigle Sisters for three decades, has died at age 63. Besides being an acclaimed and award-winning artist in her own right, McGarrigle was the mother of artists Rufus and Martha Wainwright through her previous marriage to singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. McGarrigle, who had been battling a rare form of cancer, died at her Montreal home on Monday night, January 18.
McGarrigle’s interest in music was sparked at an early age. She took piano lessons from nuns in her Quebec village and sang with her family as a child. Kate and her sister Anna, two years her senior, recorded 10 albums together and were widely noted for both the originality of their music and nice vocal harmonies.
The McGarrigle Sisters’ 1975 self-entitled debut album was named Record of the Year in 1975, while the duo won coveted Juno Awards for Best Roots and Traditional Album in 1996 and 1998 for Matapedia and The McGarrigle Hour, respectively. The latter album also prompted a television special of the same name in 1999, featuring performances by McGarrigle’s ex-husband, Linda Ronstadt and EmmyLou Harris. Rondstadt, Harris and Billy Bragg are among the artists who also have recorded the sisters’ songs over the years. Notable McGarrigle Sisters’ songs include “Heart Like a Wheel,” “Goin’ Back to Harlan,” “Love Over and Over,” “Hearts Accelerating” and “Talk to Me of Mendocino.” The duo’s last album, The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, was released in 2005, while Kate’s last public performance took place in Montreal just before Christmas last year.
McGarrigle was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1993, and she and her sister were the recipients of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) in 2006.
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