Rufus Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is an American-Canadian Grammy nominated singer, songwriter and composer from Rhineneck, New York, U.S.
Born to parents Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwirght III, Rufus’ parents divorced when he was three and the toddler lived with his mother in Montreal, Canada for most of his childhood. Rufus began playing piano at age six and started touring with the family band The McGarrigle Sisters and Family” aged 13 which included his mother Kate, his sister Martha and aunt Anna.
At age 14 Wainwright earned a 1989 Genie Nomination for his performance of “I’m a-Runnin” in the film “Tommy Ticker and the Stamp Traveller, and a year later nominated for the 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist. After this time Rufus began his life-long adoration for the opera which would strongly influence his future musical excursions.
Through weekly shows on Montreal’s club circuit, Rufus created a series of demo tapes, which eventually secured him record deal with DreamWorks. 1998’s self-titled debut took the best part of 1996 and 1997 to record a total of 56 songs, using 62 rolls of tape, costing an estimate of $700,000. The album received huge critical acclaim, topped many best-of lists, and won a series of awards, however the commercial success was limited.
Wainwright’s follow-up album “Poses” released June 5, 2001, continued the same vein of critical acclaim without commercial success for Rufus. After a stint of using crystal meth where the singer temporarily lost his eye sight, and a surreal week which included a cameo appearance on the BBC program “Absolutely Fabulous”, partying with George W. Bush’s daughter Barbara and singing with Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus decided he needed a change.
In 2003 Wainwirght released the full-length “Want One” and a year later “Want Two”. Both albums would be combined and released under the name “Want” in 2005, the same year Rufus made vocal contributions to Mercury Prize winning album Antony and the Johnsons’ “I am a Bird Now" and Burt Bacharach’s “At This Time”.
In 2006 Wainwright performed a pair of sold-out shows at New York's, U.S., Carnegie Hall where he performed the entire Judy Garland concert album, and did the same at the London, UK’s Palladium.
Rufus’ follow album “Release the Stars” achieved much greater commercial success peaking at No. 2 in the UK Albums chart and No. 23 on the Billboard 200, and featured mother Kate, sister Martha, Neil Tennant and Joan Wasser.
Wainwright’s subsequent albums, 2010’s “All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu” and 2012’s “Out of the Game” both performed well in the charts and received much the same acclaim Rufus has come to expect.
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