Rufus Wainwright

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Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright in concert in Chicago
Rufus Wainwright in concert in Chicago
Background information
Birth name Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright
Born July 22, 1973 (1973-07-22) (age 34)
Origin Rhinebeck, New York, U.S.
Genre(s) Baroque/chamber pop
Operatic pop
Piano rock
Opera
Instrument(s) Vocals
Piano
Guitar
Years active 1993–present
Label(s) Geffen Records
Dreamworks Records
Website www.rufuswainwright.com

Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. Since 1998, he has recorded five albums of original music, several EPs, and numerous tracks included on compilations and film soundtracks. He is the son of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, brother of Martha Wainwright, and half-brother of Lucy Wainwright Roche.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Rufus Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III (a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of New Netherland[1]). His parents divorced when he was a child, and he lived with his mother in Montreal, Canada for most of his youth. Wainwright is both a U.S and Canadian citizen.[2] He attended high school at the Millbrook School in downstate New York (which would later inspire his song "Millbrook") and later briefly studied piano at Concordia and McGill Universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He began playing the piano at age six and started touring at thirteen with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family" (a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna). His song "I'm A-Runnin'", which he performed in the movie Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award (for Best Original Song).[3] He was also nominated for a 1990 Canadian Juno Award (for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year).[4]

Wainwright came out as gay while still a teenager.[5] In 1999, he told Rolling Stone that his father recognized his son's homosexuality early on. "We'd drive around in the car, he'd play 'Heart of Glass' and I'd sort of mouth the words, pretend to be Blondie. Just a sign of many other things to come as well."[6] Wainwright later said in another interview that his "mother and father could not even handle me being gay. We never talked about it really."[7]

Wainwright became interested in opera during his adolescent years and by going to the stateopera in Berlin, and the genre strongly influences his music. (For instance, his track "Barcelona" features lyrics from the libretto of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Macbeth.) During this time, he also became deeply interested in Édith Piaf, Al Jolson and Judy Garland.

At age 14, Wainwright was sexually assaulted in London's Hyde Park after picking up a man at a bar.[7] He remained chaste for five years after the incident. Elsewhere, however, he claims it postponed his becoming promiscuous.[7] In an interview years later, he described the event: "I said I wanted to go to the park and see where this big concert was going on. I thought it was going to be a romantic walk in the park, but he raped me and robbed me afterwards and tried to strangle me".[8] Wainwright claims that he survived only by pretending to be an epileptic and faking a seizure.[9]

[edit] Rise to fame, debut album

Through weekly shows at Cafe Sarajevo, Wainwright became a fixture on the Montreal club circuit and eventually cut a series of demo tapes produced by Pierre Marchand (who also produced Wainwright's later album, Poses) - DreamWorks executive Lenny Waronker acquired the demo tapes and signed Wainwright to his label. The singer moved to New York City in the spring of 1996 and began performing regularly at Club Fez, building a loyal local audience. He relocated to Los Angeles that fall, and began recording his first studio album, 1998's Rufus Wainwright.

Wainwright's self-titled debut received critical acclaim; Rolling Stone magazine recognized it as one of the best albums of the year and named the singer "Best New Artist" of the year. Wainwright toured with Sean Lennon in the summer of 1998 and began his first headline tour later that year. In December 1998, he appeared in a Gap commercial directed by Phil Harder, performing Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?". The promotion increased dramatically both his visibility and his record sales. On March 1, 1999 Wainwright started a headlining tour at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey.

[edit] Poses

By summer 1999 he had taken some time off to live and put music on the back burner. He lived in the Chelsea Hotel in NYC for six months, during which he wrote most of his second album. On June 5, 2001, Poses, Wainwright's second album, was released to critical acclaim, but limited record sales.

From 2001 to 2004, he toured with Tori Amos, Sting, Ben Folds, and Guster, as well as headlining the 2001 and 2002 tour in support of Poses. He often performs with his sister Martha Wainwright (now herself an emerging artist) on backup vocals. Despite a growing cult following and critical acclaim, Wainwright has experienced somewhat limited commercial success in the United States, although the release of his Release the Stars album saw increased media attention there, as did the associated 2007 US tour.[10]

[edit] Addiction

Wainwright became addicted to crystal meth in the early 2000s and temporarily lost his vision as a result. His addiction reached its peak in 2002, during what he described as "the most surreal week of my life." During that week, he played a cameo role in the UK comedy television programme "Absolutely Fabulous"; spent several nights partying with the president's daughter, Barbara Bush[11]; enjoyed a "debauched evening" with his mother and Marianne Faithfull; sang with Antony of Antony and the Johnsons for Zaldy's spring 2003 collection; and, throughout, experienced recurring hallucinations of his father. He decided shortly after that he "was either going to rehab or I was going to live with my father. I knew I needed an asshole to yell at me, and I felt he fitted the bill".[12]

Seeking guidance, he telephoned his friend Elton John, who persuaded him to check in to rehab at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. He detoxed and underwent therapy at the facility which he has claimed in several interviews gave him 'a second chance'.

[edit] The Want albums

Wainwright's album, Want Two, from which four songs were released as the EP Waiting For A Want, was released by DreamWorks/Geffen on November 16, 2004. It is a companion/sequel to the 2003 release Want One. Afterward, a live iTunes Sessions EP entitled Alright, Already: Live in Montréal was released March 15, 2005. A DVD entitled All I Want, featuring a biographical documentary, music videos, and live performances, was released internationally in mid-2005. The same year was also notable for two major contributions as solo vocalist to a pair of important records: the Mercury Prize winning Antony and the Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now and Burt Bacharach's At This Time.

The Want One and Want Two albums were repackaged as Want for a late-November 2005 release to coincide with the start of a British tour. The version of Want One is that which contains the two extra songs "Es Muß Sein" and "Velvet Curtain Rag". The Want package in the UK has two new extra tracks: "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" (Leonard Cohen cover) and "In With the Ladies", which replace "Coeur de Parisienne — Reprise d'Arletty" and "Quand Vous Mourez de Nos Amours" from 2004's augmented edition.

[edit] Release the Stars

Rufus' fifth studio album Release the Stars was released by Geffen on May 15, 2007. The album was produced by Wainwright himself and featured Richard Thompson, Teddy Thompson, Martha Wainwright, Kate McGarrigle, Neil Tennant, Joan Wasser, Julianna Raye, Larry Mullins (professionally known as Toby Dammit), and Sian Phillips.[13] It reached number 2 in the UK, and debuted at number 23 in the USA. The first single of the album, Going to a Town was released on April 3, 2007 on the iTunes music store. The second single released from the album was 'Rules and Regulations' with the third and final release being a 500-copy physical release of 'Tiergarten'.Release the Stars was recently certified gold in the UK. The accompanying 'Release the Stars' World tour saw Rufus visit North America, Europe, Asia and Australia and finished on February 14th 2008 with a final concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. [14]

[edit] Rufus Does Judy Garland

On June 10, 2006, NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday broadcast an interview of Wainwright by Scott Simon. The segment concerned Wainwright's sold-out pair of Carnegie Hall shows June 14 & 15, 2006 in which he performed the entire Judy Garland concert album recorded there in 1961.[15] He later repeated his performance at the London Palladium, the Paris Olympia, and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.[16] Live CD and DVD recordings of the concerts were released on December 4, 2007. The DVD is titled Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live From the London Palladium. The CD album, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, is a recording of his show at that legendary New York venue.[17]

In 2008, Garland's daughter Lorna Luft indicated her strong approval of Wainwright's recordings of her mother's songs. [18]

[edit] Prima Donna

Following his 2007-2008 tour, Wainwright plans to write his first opera, Prima Donna which he says will be about "a day in the life of an opera singer."[19] The opera has been commissioned by Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb.[20] There are four characters. He is, thus far, writing the libretto in French.[21]

[edit] Music

In addition to his baritone singing voice, he plays both piano and the guitar, often switching between the two instruments when performing live. While some of his songs feature just Wainwright with his piano, his later work is often accompanied by rock instrumentation or a symphony orchestra, displaying complex layering and harmonies with an operatic feel. Wainwright is an avid opera fan, and the influences on his music are evident, as well as his love of Franz Schubert's Lieder.[citation needed] Some of Wainwright's songs have been described as "Popera" (Pop Opera) or "Baroque Pop". Many of his compositions are densely packed, dizzying amalgams of strings, horns, operatic choruses, ragtime rhythms and his own distinctively warm vocal timbre.[22]

[edit] Work in film, broadcasting and theatre

In addition to his role in Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, Wainwright has appeared in the films The Aviator and Heights. He has also recorded tracks especially for films, including Brokeback Mountain, I Am Sam, Moulin Rouge!, Shrek, Meet the Robinsons and Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. He is also seen in the Denys Arcand film L’Âge des ténèbres.[23]

In 2005 a DVD called All I Want was released, including a full-length documentary, 'A Portrait of Rufus Wainwright', performances at Central Park SummerStage and Cambridge Corn Exchange, studio sessions, music videos, and two bonus Easter Eggs, a twelve-minute documentary from 1998 featuring Rufus and his family, and a short tribute to the McGarrigle Sisters featuring Rufus and Martha.

In May 2006, Rufus was one of three special guests (the others being Robbie Williams and Frances Barber) to star with the Pet Shop Boys in a concert at London's Mermaid Theatre where he covered "Casanova in Hell", a track from the latest Pet Shop Boys album Fundamental. The critically acclaimed show was broadcast on the UK's BBC Radio 2 and repeated on BBC 6 Music and released as a CD, Concrete in October 2006, that included Rufus's contribution.

During June 2007, Wainwright was a part of the multi-artist True Colors Tour [24], which travelled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada. The tour, sponsored by the Logo channel, began on June 8, 2007. Hosted by comedian Margaret Cho and headlined by Cyndi Lauper, the tour also included Debbie Harry, The Gossip, the Indigo Girls, The Dresden Dolls, The MisShapes, Erasure and other special guests. Profits from the tour helped to benefit the Human Rights Campaign. In August 2007 Wainwright said he considered it a "great honor" to perform on that gay rights tour.[25]

Wainwright continued to tour during 2007,[26] and embraced forms of expression not usually part of mainstream American music concerts. This included dressing in red lipstick and stiletto heeled shoes to perform Judy Garland songs, and expressing his concerns against the current US political situation. His performances were critically acclaimed.[27]

[edit] Themes

Wainwright's oeuvre contains several recurring themes: opera, literature, pop culture, and, more recently, politics (see, "Waiting for a Dream," "Gay Messiah," and "Going to a Town.") attraction, yearning and love (often unrequited) are some underlying themes for a significant portion of his work (perhaps most poignantly in "Harvester of Hearts"), albeit in various and dissimilar forms. In "Foolish Love," Wainwright describes the joys of initial infatuation such as his with stateside radio producer Jon W. Knowles (whose birthday ironically is "April Fools"), while in "The Art Teacher," he tackles a first-person infatuation between a schoolgirl and her teacher.[28] Other songs address full-blown love and the consequences of falling out of love such as This Love Affair and Peach Trees.

Wainwright also sings about his family relationships. "Beauty Mark," "Little Sister," and "Dinner at Eight" address, respectively, his experiences with his mother, sisters, and father.

Religion and religious imagery also appear in his music. (See "Agnus Dei," "Gay Messiah," and "Greek Song.") Wainwright is also fascinated by experiences in the world and distant geography ("Oh What A World" and "April Fools"). At least a few of Wainright's songs address his experiences with crystal meth and rehab (see "Go Or Go Ahead" and "I Don't Know What It Is").

Wainwright wrote the song "Millbrook" about his high school, Millbrook School, in Millbrook, NY. This song was also the inspiration and namesake of the Los Angeles indie band Millbrook.[29] The song "Matinee Idol" from the same album was written about the late River Phoenix.

The song "Memphis Skyline" is a tribute to the late singer Jeff Buckley, who drowned in Memphis in the Wolf River, a tributary of the Mississippi, on May 29, 1997. The two met each other briefly in the '90s when Wainwright was an up-and-coming act. By this time, Buckley had already released his first album (Grace), and was well on his way to stardom. He has said that he had been irritated that Buckley played at Sin-é, a café on the Lower East Side, as he [Wainwright] was rejected three times by the club. The two met several months prior to Buckley's drowning, during a gig Wainwright was playing. Buckley supposedly helped out with some technical problems, and the two chatted over beers for a few hours. The song references "Hallelujah," a Leonard Cohen song which Buckley notably covered, and which Wainwright later did likewise.

The song "Sanssouci" ("carefree" in French) was inspired by 18th century Prussian monarch Frederick the Great's Rococo summer palace of the same name in Potsdam, outside Berlin, Germany. "Tiergarten," also from Release the Stars, refers to the Berlin Tiergarten, and is written about his boyfriend of three years, German arts administrator Jörn Weisbrodt.[30][31]

[edit] Discography

Main article: Rufus Wainwright discography


[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Genie Awards

  • 1989 - Nominated, Best Original Song, I'm A-Runnin' [32]

[edit] Juno Awards

Source is the Juno Awards database[33]

  • 1990 - Nominated, Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year
  • 1999 - Won, Best Alternative Album; Rufus Wainwright
  • 2002 - Nominated, Best Songwriter; "Poses," "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk," and "Grey Gardens"
  • 2002 - Won, Best Alternative Album; Poses
  • 2005 - Nominated, Adult Alternative Album of the Year; Want Two
  • 2008 - Nominated, Adult Alternative Album of the Year; Release the Stars
  • 2008 - Nominated, Songwriter of the Year; "Going to a Town" / "Release the Stars" / "Do I Disappoint You?"


[edit] Other

  • 1999 - Outstanding Music Album, GLAAD Media Awards
  • 1999 - Debut Album of the Year, Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards
  • 2004 - Nominated, Shortlist Music Prize
  • 2008 - Outstanding Music Artist, GLAAD Media Awards (Release the Stars)
  • 2008 - Nominated, Brit Award Best International Male Artist
  • 2008 - Nominated, Meteor Award Best International Male Artist
  • 2008 - Nominated, MOJO Magazine, Best Live Act

[edit] References

  1. ^ Loudon Wainwright III. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2006-10-27.
  2. ^ http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jan/12/singer_readies_solo_concerts27185/ Singer readies for solo concerts By Len Righi The Morning Call
  3. ^ Genie Awards Database Retrieved March 17, 2007
  4. ^ Juno Awards Database search for "Rufus Wainwright" Retrieved March 17, 2007
  5. ^ Shulman, Randy. "The Wainwright Stuff", Metro Weekly, March 11, 1999. Retrieved on 2008-03-18. (English) 
  6. ^ "rants & raves - Brief Article", Advocate, The, December 7, 1999. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. (English) 
  7. ^ a b c WAINWRIGHT FEARED BEING HIV POSITIVE AFTER RAPE (English). Contactmusic.com Ltd (February 22, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
  8. ^ "Rufus Wainwrights Rape Tragedy", Female First, March 1, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. (English) 
  9. ^ Goldstein, Richard. "A Torch Song Named Desire", Village Voice LLC, August 25, 1999. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. (English) 
  10. ^ "The Superfabulous World of Rufus Wainwright", New York Times, June 4, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-06. (English) 
  11. ^ "Baroque Pop Idol", Mother Jones, May 14, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-14. (English) 
  12. ^ "Crystal clear", Observer Music Monthly, February 20, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-10-20. (English) 
  13. ^ Rufus Wainwright Is Ready To Release The Stars
  14. ^ In an interview with ABC Australia, Wainwright noted that he plans to tour solo throughout the summer before starting work on his opera in early autumn
  15. ^ Cromelin, Richard. "Rufus Wainwright waxing operatic", Los Angeles Times, May 24, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. 
  16. ^ RUFUS WAINWRIGHT BRINGS JUDY GARLAND TO LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD BOWL PERFORMANCE (English). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  17. ^ Rufus Wainwright: News & Press (English). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  18. ^ Scott, Darren. "Songs my mother taught me", Scotsman, February 8, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-08. 
  19. ^ Rueful Rufus: Wainwright savors life's battles (English). The Hook (August 9, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  20. ^ Rufus finally gets his opera commission (English). Roger Bourland (February 12, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
  21. ^ Zuel, Bernard. "Rufus Wainwright", The Sydney Morning Herald, January 25, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-01-29. 
  22. ^ Sason, David. "Busting at the Seams", Metroactive, July 25, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-29. 
  23. ^ RUFUS WAINWRIGHT BRINGS JUDY GARLAND TO LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD BOWL PERFORMANCE (English). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  24. ^ True Colors Tour 2007
  25. ^ Rodman, Sarah. "With 'Stars' in his eyes, Wainwright keeps busy", The Boston Globe, August 19, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-22. 
  26. ^ "Rufus Wainwright - Concert in Philadelphia", The Mann Center For The Performing Arts, August 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-12. 
  27. ^ Bendall, Izzi. "Wainwright show revives old Hollywood", Flint Journal Review, August 26, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-27. 
  28. ^ For a discussion on Wainwright's queering of first person narratives, see Erik Steinskog,"Voice of Hope: Queer Pop Subjectivities (English). Trikster – Nordic Queer Journal #1, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-21.
  29. ^ Millbrook (English). MySpace. Retrieved on 2006-10-20.
  30. ^ The Rufus Wainwright Archive | Song
  31. ^ Rufus Wainwright - Gig Reviews - Music - Entertainment - smh.com.au
  32. ^ Genie Awards Database Retrieved March 17, 2007
  33. ^ Juno Awards Database Retrieved March 17, 2007

[edit] External links

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