Everything about Rufus Wainwright totally explained
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born
July 22,
1973) is a
Canadian-American singer-songwriter. Since 1998, he's 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.
Biography
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). 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. 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). He was also nominated for a 1990 Canadian
Juno Award (for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year).
Wainwright
came out as
gay while still a teenager. 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." Wainwright later said in another interview that his "mother and father couldn't even handle me being gay. We never talked about it really."
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. Wainwright claims that he survived only by pretending to be an
epileptic and faking a seizure.
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.
Poses
By summer 1999 he'd 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.
Addiction
Wainwright became addicted to
crystal meth in the early 2000s and temporarily lost his vision owing to overuse. 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; 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".
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's claimed in several interviews gave him 'a second chance'.
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 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.
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. 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.
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. He later repeated his performance at the
London Palladium, the
Paris Olympia, and the
Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
Live CD and DVD recordings of the concerts were released on
December 4,
2007. The DVD is titled . The CD album,
Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, is a recording of his show at that legendary New York venue.
In 2008,
Garland's daughter
Lorna Luft indicated her strong approval of Wainwright's recordings of her mother's songs.
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." The opera has been commissioned by
Metropolitan Opera general manager
Peter Gelb. There are four characters. He is, thus far, writing the libretto in French.
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. 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.
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 . He is also seen in the
Denys Arcand film
L’Âge des ténèbres.
In 2005 a DVD called
All I Want (Rufus Wainwright album) 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, 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.
Wainwright continued to tour during 2007, 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.
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. 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. 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'd 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.
Discography
Albums
- Rufus Wainwright (May 19, 1998), US Heatseekers #24, UK #171
- Poses (June 5, 2001), US #117, UK #132
- Want One (September 23, 2003), US #60, UK #88
- Want Two (November 16, 2004), US #103, UK #21
- Release the Stars (May 15, 2007), US #23, UK #2, Australia #58, Canada #7, UWC #14
- Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (December 4, 2007) US # 171, UK, #171
EPs, DVDs, etc.
Waiting For A Want (EP; 2004, DreamWorks) — available only on iTunes
(EP; 2005, DreamWorks/Geffen) — available only on iTunes to North American buyers
All I Want (DVD; 2005) - features documentary + live concert footage and music videos
Want (2005, DreamWorks/Geffen) — repackaging Want One and Want Two as one album, with two extra tracks
Tiergarten (EP; 2007, Geffen) — contains one track: "Supermayer Lost in Tiergarten" remix (available digitally and in limited vinyl release)
(DVD)
Singles
"I Don't Know What It Is" (2004, UK #74)
"Crumb by Crumb" (2005, UK #49 - airplay chart only)
"Hallelujah" (2007, UK #148)
"Going to a Town" (2007, UK #54) - iTunes
"Rules and Regulations" (2007) - iTunes (UK)
"Tiergarten" (2007) - limited edition 12" single (500 copies) featuring the "Supermayer Lost in Tiergarten" remix
Contributions
Soundtracks
"I'm A-Runnin'" - Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller (Les Aventuriers du Timbre Perdu) (1988)
"Le Roi D'Ys" and "Banks of the Wabash" - The Myth of Fingerprints (1997, Velvel Records)
"Instant Pleasure" - Big Daddy (1999, Sony) (composed by Seth Swirsky)
"Complainte de la Butte" - Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film (2001, Interscope)
"Hallelujah" - (2001, Dreamworks)
"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" - Zoolander (2001, Hollywood Records)
"Across the Universe" - I Am Sam: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture (2002, V2/BMG)
"It's Only a Paper Moon" and "I Wonder What Became of Me" - Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen (2003, Sony)
"Hallelujah" - The L Word (2004, Tommy Boy)
"I Eat Dinner (When the Hunger's Gone)" (with Dido) - (2004, Geffen Records)
"I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise" - The Aviator (2004, Sony)
"King of the Road" (duet with Teddy Thompson) and "The Maker Makes" - Brokeback Mountain (2005, Verve)
"This Love Affair" - Hell (2006, CINEFONIA)
"Chelsea Hotel No. 2" and "Everybody Knows" - (2006, Verve Forecast)
"Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk [Reprise]" - The Last Kiss (2006, Lakeshore Records)
"Bewitched" - The History Boys: The Original Soundtrack (2006, Rhino/Wea)
"Another Believer" and "The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commotion)" - Meet the Robinsons (2007, Walt Disney Records)
Guest appearances
"A Place in Your Heart" from Love Over and Over (1983) by Kate & Anna McGarrigle - guest vocalist
"I'm Losing You" from Heartbeats Accelerating (1990) by Kate & Anna McGarrigle - guest vocalist
"Better Times Are Coming" from Songs From the Civil War (1991, Columbia) - co-lead vocalist with Kate & Anna McGarrigle and backing vocalist on "Hard Times Come Again No More"
"La Song" from Whoever (1998) by Cecil Seaskull - guest vocalist
"Schooldays", "What'll I Do?", "Heartburn", "Talk to Me of Mendocino", "Goodnight Sweetheart" from The McGarrigle Hour (1998) - co-lead vocalist, also background vocals on various other tracks
"You Don't Know" from Dirty White Town (1999) by Shoofly - guest vocalist
"So Easy" from Teddy Thompson (2000) by Teddy Thompson - guest vocalist, co-wrote "Missing Children" and arranged harmony vocal for "Brink of Love" from same album
"Those Were the Days" from Do You Hear What We Hear? (2000) by Kiki and Herb - co-lead vocalist
"Three Angels" and "Mistletoe" from Madame Xavier (2001) by Jordi Rosen - vocalist
"American Triangle" from Songs from the West Coast (2001, Universal Records) by Elton John - backing vocals
"More Wine" from Restless Night (2002) by Julianna Raye - vocal duet with Raye, also co-written
"Scarecrow" from & (2002) by Kristian Hoffman - duet with Hoffman
"All I See" from Fashionably Late (2002) by Linda Thompson - guest vocalist
"Au Fond du Temple Saint" by Georges Bizet from Grown Backwards (2004, Nonesuch) by David Byrne - duet with Byrne
"What Can I Do?" from ' I Am a Bird Now (2005, Rough Trade) by Antony and the Johnsons - lead vocals
"Those Were the Days" from (2004) by Kiki and Herb - co-vocalist
"Don't Forget" and "The Maker" from Martha Wainwright (2005) by Martha Wainwright - backing vocalist, arranged vocals on "Don't Forget"
"Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" from If I Were You (2005) by Jason Hart - co-lead vocalist
"Go Ask Shakespeare" from At This Time (2005, BMG) by Burt Bacharach - solo vocalist
"Waterloo Station" from Fictions (2006) by Jane Birkin - composer
"Tired of Wasting Time" from Life Grows Back (2006) by Sloan Wainwright - duet
"Casanova in Hell" from Concrete (2006) by Pet Shop Boys - solo vocalist
"My Blue Tears" from Upfront & Down Low (2007) by Teddy Thompson - arranged strings
"Beauty" from Versatile Heart (2007) by Linda Thompson - composer
"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" from Hope & Glory (2007) by Ann Wilson - co-vocalist
"The George Song" from I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (2008) by Martha Wainwright - guest vocalist
Compilations
"Sonnet 29 - When in Disgrace With Fortune & Men's Eyes.." from When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics)
"The Origin of Love" from Wig in a Box (2003, Off Records)
"Spotlight On Christmas" from Maybe This Christmas Too? (2003, Nettwerk Records)
"My Funny Valentine" from Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs (2005, Live More Musically)
"Spotlight On Christmas" and "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" from The McGarrigle Christmas Hour (2005, Nonesuch)
"Katonah" from Plague Songs (2006, 4AD)
"Lowlands Away" (with Kate McGarrigle) from (2006, ANTI-)
"Harvest" (with Chris Stills) from Sounds Eclectic: The Cover Project (2007, Hear Music)
Other
"Ode to Antidote", created for a Viktor & Rolf ad campaign for their perfume, Antidote. (2006)
Bloom, composed and recorded voicings for the dance production entitled, "Bloom", as performed by the Stephen Petronio Dance Company. (2006)
Yellow Lounge (2007, Deutsche Grammophon), a compilation album of classical pieces chosen by Wainwright, and two Wainwright songs performed by the Fauré Quartett.
Awards and nominations
Genie Awards
1989 - Nominated, Best Original Song, I'm A-Runnin'
Juno Awards
Source is the Juno Awards database
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?"
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 ActFurther Information
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