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Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright is a Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter, was born into a family of musical pedigree: his mother is Kate McGarrigle and his father is Loudon Wainwright III. His sister, Martha Wainwright is also a musician, as is his half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche and his aunt, Sloan Wainwright.

Rufus was born in New York but moved to Canada when his parents divorced. He was aged three at that time. He attended Millbrook School as well as studying piano at Concordia and Mc Gill Universities.

As a child, Rufus Wainwright would play piano in 'The McGarrigle Sisters and Family' band, mainly playing folk music. At the age of 14, he played his song 'I'm a-Runnin' in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller. He won a Genie Award for Best Original Song.

Wainwright began playing weekly shows at Café Sarajevo and produced a demo tape that was passed in to Van Dyke Parks. Parks then passed the tapes onto the head of DreamWorks, Lenny Waronker, who signed Wainwright to the label.

In 1996, he moved to New York City and recorded his debut album, Rufus Wainwright, released in 1998. To promote the release of the album, he toured with Sean Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Wainwright wrote the majority of his second album whilst he lived in the Chelsea Hotel for six months. Poses was released in 2001 and he toured with Tori Amos, Ben Folds and Sting to promote the album.

Wainwright's career was briefly de-railed in the early 2000's when his addiction to crystal meth became destructive. Following a fortnight of debauchery involving Marianne Faithfull, Barbara Bush and Antony Hegarty, Wainwright concentrated on getting clean, with the help of his friend, Elton John.

The album Want Two was released as a sequel to 2003's Want One and was followed by a live iTunes Sessions EP named Alright, Already: Live in Montreal. In 2005, Wainwright released a DVD entitled All I Want. Later that year, he also contributed vocals to Antony and the Johnsons' "I am A Bird Now" and Burt Bacharach's "At This Time". The two Want albums were repackaged as a single release, featuring a cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Chelsea Hotel No.2'.

2006 saw Rufus Wainwright perform the entirety of Judy Garland's Carnegie Hall concert, at Carnegie Hall. Judy Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft has expressed her approval of the performance.

In 2007, Rufus Wainwright released his fifth studio album, Release the Stars. The album featured Richard Thompson and Teddy Thompson as well as his mother, his sister Martha, Joan Wasser (of Joan as Policewoman) and Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys.

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Performance / Tour

Vicious World Plays the Music of Rufus Wainwright

Vicious World Plays the Music of Rufus Wainwright

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

Who is Vicious World and what are they doing messing around with Rufus Wain- wright? Vicious World Plays the Music of Rufus Wainwright (Spinaround SRCD001) is an 11-tune disk played by an unusually instrumented ensemble. Vicious World is the brainchild of reedist Aaron Irwin and Matthew McDonald, trombonist. They are joined by guitarist Sebastian Noelle (who cranks out some solo gems when called upon), plus contrabass, drums, violin and cello. The sonarity of the combined forces is a big factor ...

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Recording

Vicious World - Plays the Music of Rufus Wainwright (2011)

Vicious World - Plays the Music of Rufus Wainwright (2011)

Source: Something Else!

Originally named for a Rufus Wainwright song, it was perhaps inevitable that Vicious World would eventually devote an entire album to this underrated contemporary singer-songwriter. That doesn't make the prospect any less daunting, considering the sharp turns and blind alleys associated with Wainwright's deeply idiosyncratic style. But Vicious World, a septet co-led by saxophonist Aaron Irwin and trombonist Matthew McDonald, matches the music's mysterious melodicism with an expanded lineup that also includes lush textures from violinist Eliza Cho and cellist ...

132

Recording

Rufus Wainwright Creates His Own Oz

Rufus Wainwright Creates His Own Oz

Source: Michael Ricci

The devoted fan dressed up as Judy Garland during a 2007 concert that has been turned into a CD and DVD, 'Milwaukee at Last!'

Martin Scorsese once called Rufus Wainwright a “one-man Greek chorus." The hyperliterate singer-songwriter is the son of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, a devoted fan of Judy Garland and recently an opera composer. (His first, the French-language “Prima Donna," premiered this summer.) His next release is a live album, “Milwaukee at Last!!!," which ...

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