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Martha Wainwright

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Martha Wainwright

Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle. With her older brother, Rufus Wainwright, she was raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in a musical family.

Early musical development

In 1998, Wainwright took the first step toward her musical career, through the recording of her song "Year of the Dragon" as a contribution to The McGarrigle Hour, an album released by her mother, Kate, and her aunt, Anna McGarrigle. Shortly after this recording, Martha began singing backup vocals for her brother.

Following her drama classes at Montreal's Concordia University, she moved to New York City, where she established herself as singer and songwriter. She made contacts within the industry, one was producer Brad Albetta, who worked with Wainwright to produce her self-titled debut album, Martha Wainwright (released April 12, 2005 by MapleMusic Recordings).

Albetta worked again with Wainwright to produce her second album, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too, released in Canada on June 10, 2008. Artists contributing to the album include Pete Townshend (The Who), Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), Garth Hudson (The Band), as well as her mother, brother and aunt.

Wainwright is signed with the independent record labels Rounder Records in the United States, DiS in the United Kingdom, MapleMusic Recordings in Canada, V2 Records in Europe and Shock Records in Australia.

She performed "Tower of Song" and "The Traitor" at the Cohen tribute concert which became the film and album Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man.

Performance and media attention

Since the release of her album, I Know You're Married..., Wainwright toured in Europe, Canada, the United States and Australia. She has positive reviews; Tricia Summers, of Spin.com, describes Wainwright's stage presence, of July 23/08, as: "Slowly strumming her guitar and along on stage with a powerful voice, she knew she had the crowd wrapped around her finger".

Wainwright has received positive reviews for her performances.[1] She appeared at the 2007 Bonnaroo and at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness-shire in August 2007. She duetted with Snow Patrol at the V Festival and Lollapalooza, and performed with her brother at the Hollywood Bowl in September 2007.

Annie Lennox joined Wainwright and 22 female artists to raise awareness of the transmission of HIV to unborn children in Africa. The single "Sing" was released on World Aids Day on December 1, 2007, when Lennox appeared at the Nelson Mandela 46664 concert in South Africa.

On November 18, 2009 she appeared on the BBC Two TV music show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

In 2009 she appeared in episodes 2 and 3 of the BBC series Transatlantic Sessions 4.

She recorded a song with Snow Patrol in 2007. The song reached the top 100 on iTunes.

Personal life

She married her producer Brad Albetta in September 2007. They have a son, Arcangelo, born prematurely at University College Hospital, London on 16 November 2009.[2]

Discography

Main article: Martha Wainwright discography

References

  1. ^ Guardian Review, June 23. 2007 for example
  2. ^ Wainwright, Martha (2009-12-29). "Martha Wainwright: Thank God I had my baby in Britain". The Times. Retrieved 2009-12-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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