Rufus Wainwright

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.

Biography

Early years

Rufus Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, who divorced while he was a child.

He began to play the piano at age six, and by age thirteen he was touring with his sister Martha, mother Kate, and aunt Anna as the "McGarrigle Sisters and Family." His song "I'm Running," which he performed in the movie Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, in which he also played a minor character, earned him the 1988 Genie Award for Best Original Song. He was also nominated for the 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist.

He lived in Montreal with his mother for most of his childhood and briefly attended McGill University, where he studied both classical and 'rock' piano. Some of his songs feature his mastery of French. Wainwright still maintains a residence in Canada.

He came out as gay while still a teen. In the November 11 1999 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, Wainwright said that his father recognized his being gay at a very young age. "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". However, he would later say that his "mother and father could not even handle me being gay. We never talked about it really".

Wainwright became interested in opera throughout his adolescent years (for instance, his track Barcelona features lyrics of Giuseppe Verdi). He also became an enthusiast of such performers as Édith Piaf, Al Jolson and Judy Garland.

At age 14, Wainwright was raped in London's Hyde Park after picking up a man at a bar. Afraid that he had contracted HIV, he remained celibate for seven years after the incident. He later spoke of that night in an interview: "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". He claims that he survived only by pretending to be an epileptic going through a seizure.

Rise to Fame

After becoming a fixture on the Montreal club circuit playing Cafe Sarajevo every week, Wainwright cut a series of demo tapes, which were produced by Pierre Marchand (who also produced "Poses"). The tapes found themselves in the hands of DreamWorks executive Lenny Waronker, and the label signed him. Rufus moved to New York City in the spring of 1996 and began playing at the club Fez to build an audience. After playing there for a while, he moved to Los Angeles in the fall of '96 to record his first album with producer Jon Brion. He released the self-titled Rufus Wainwright album in the spring of 1998; the record received much critical acclaim, and was recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the best albums of the year. He was also named by Rolling Stone magazine "Best New Artist" of the year. Wainwright toured with Sean Lennon in the summer of 1998, and later that year began his first headlining tour. In December 1998, he appeared in a Gap commercial singing "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" The promotion brought much more attention to his career and increased his album sales dramatically. On March 1, 1999 in Hoboken, NJ at Maxwell's, Rufus started a headlining tour that took him til mid May. 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 sophomore album. On June 5, 2001, Poses, Wainwright's second album, was released, bringing just as much critical acclaim as his debut. Though Wainwright was less than pleased with the record's 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 only marginal commercial success in the United States.

Addiction and the Want Albums

In the early 2000s, Wainwright became addicted to crystal meth, during which time he went temporarily blind from his usage of the drug. By 2002, his addiction had reached its height. In what he deemed "the most surreal week of his life", the singer played a cameo role as a drug addict in Absolutely Fabulous; spent several nights partying with Barbara Bush (the President's daughter); and had a "debauched evening" with his mother and Marianne Faithfull, all the while, having recurring hallucinations of his father. He soon decided 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".

Upon realizing that he needed some sort of guidance in his life, he telephoned friend Elton John, who convinced him to check in to rehab at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. There he detoxed and underwent therapy. He has not confirmed or denied if he has stuck with sobriety.

His talent has been widely recognized and praised by such artists as Elton John, Morrissey, John Mayer, Leonard Cohen and Sting, and he continues to influence artists like Alanis Morissette, , Keane, and Scissor Sisters

Wainwright's most recent album to date, 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 to the 2003 release Want One. His latest, a live iTunes Sessions EP entitled "Alright Already", was released March 15, 2005. A DVD entitled "All I Want," featuring a biographical documentary, music videos, and live performances, was released on both sides of the Atlantic in summer 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 (Want One and Want Two combined) package in the UK has two new extra tracks: "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" 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.

Wainwright is currently working on a new album of material due for release in May 2007; according to Rufus' official site the album will be titled Release the Stars. The site names Neil Tennant as the executive producer. He has also recently contributed several song tributes for the documentary and album Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man celebrating Canadian poet/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen in June 2006..

Music

Wainwright is a singer with complete security of intonation, even over a dense accompaniment. In addition to being a pianist, he can also play the guitar, often switching between the two instruments when performing live. While some of his songs feature just Wainwright with his piano, many songs are accompanied by various instruments and backing vocals, some songs even by a symphony orchestra, displaying rather 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".

Work in film, broadcasting and on-stage

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 and I'm Your Man. Rufus is managed by Barry Taylor and Paula Quijano, and his publicist is Barbara Charone.

In 2005 a DVD called All I Want was released, including a full-length documentary, All I Want: 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 McGariggle 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 Radio 6 and released as a CD, Concrete in October 2006, that included Rufus's contribution.

On June 10 2006, Wainwright was heard on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday in an interview with Scott Simon. The segment concerned Wainwright's sold-out pair of Carnegie Hall concerts June 14/June 15 2006 in which he performed the entire Judy Garland concert album recorded there in 1961.

It was recently revealed that Wainwright has been commissioned by Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb to write his own opera. He has stated that it will be called "Prima Donna," and it will be the story of a day in the life of an opera singer. There are four characters. He is, thus far, writing the libretto in French.

Themes

Wainwright's music contains several recurring themes, which have continued to evolve across his entire body of work. His lyrics are filled with allusions to opera, literature, pop culture, and, more recently, politics (in songs such as "Gay Messiah" and "Waiting for a Dream"). Many of his songs contain references to his love for men, seen quintessentially in "Harvester of Hearts". He describes many points along the emotional path of falling in love, from initial infatuation and fleeting glance ("Foolish Love") to outright love, casually confirming that the object of his affection is male. He met his current boyfriend, Jörn Weisbrodt, a German concert manager for the Berlin State Opera, during summer 2005.

Family is drawn into his work quite commonly, as seen in "Beauty Mark" (about his mother Kate McGarrigle) and "Little Sister" (about his sister Martha Wainwright and step-sisters). The song "Dinner At Eight" was written after a major fight he had with his father, Loudon Wainwright III.

Perhaps the most subtle theme evident in his music is that of religion, which perhaps culminates in Want Two with both "Agnus Dei" and "Gay Messiah." However, he uses religious imagery in many of his songs ("Greek Song") but only occasionally writes explicitly about religious ideas ("Gay Messiah").

While not blatantly obvious, many of his songs deal with his use of crystal meth and the rehab afterward ("Go Or Go Ahead", "Baby"). Wainwright is also fascinated by travel, trains and distant geography ("Oh What A World" and "April Fools").

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 had been irritated that Buckley played at Siné, 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.

Trivia

Rufus Wainwright is, through his father, a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of the colony of New Netherland and a major figure in the early history of New York City.

In an interview with British newspaper The Observer, Rufus Wainwright listed his top ten gay icons. Wainwright selected Judy Garland as his first choice, claiming that she was not merely a gay icon but citing her as something of a "a gay beacon. A gay saint". Singers Kate Bush, Stevie Nicks, Kylie Minogue, Prince, Dusty Springfield and Morrissey were amongst his nine remaining choices.

Wainwright is also known to have coined the term "bussy" a portmanteau of boy and pussy.

He once had a love affair with a girl named Krissy.

Discography

Albums

• Rufus Wainwright (1998, DreamWorks)
• Poses (2001, DreamWorks)
• Want One (2003, DreamWorks)
• Want Two (2004, DreamWorks/Geffen)
• Release the Stars (will be released May 15, 2007)

Compilations, EPs, etc.

• Waiting For A Want (EP; 2004, DreamWorks) — available only on iTunes
• All I Want (2005, DVD)
• Want (2005, DreamWorks/Geffen) — repackaging Want One and Want Two as one album, with two extra tracks
• Alright, Already: Live in Montreal (EP; 2005, DreamWorks/Geffen) — available only on iTunes

Contributions

• "A Place in Your Heart" from Love Over & Over by Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Guest vocalist (1983)
• "I'm A-Runnin'" - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller (1989)
• Bloom, composed and recorded voicings for the dance production entitled, "Bloom", as performed by the Stephen Petronio Dance Company.
• "I'm Losing You" from Hearbeats Accelerating by Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Guest vocalist (1990)
• "Better Times Are Coming" from Songs From the Civil War (Columbia) - co-lead vocalist with Kate & Anna McGarrigle and backing vocalist on "Hard Times Come Again No More." (1991)
• "Le Roi D'Ys" and "Banks of the Wabash" - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture The Myth of Fingerprints (1997)
• "La Song" - from Whoever by Cecil Seaskull - Guest vocalist (1998)
• "Schooldays", "What'll I Do?", "Heartburn", "Talk to Me of Mendocino", "Goodnight Sweetheart" - Co-lead vocalist; also background vocals on various other tracks. - The McGarrigle Hour (1998)
• "Talk to Me of Mendocino" - from Gzowski in Compilation - Guest co-vocalist with Kate McGarrigle and Martha Wainwright (1999)
• "April Fools" from Live at the World Café Vol. 9 - live and acoustic version - lead vocalist and composer (1999)
• "Instant Pleasure" - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Big Daddy (1999, Sony) (composed by Seth Swirsky), Lead vocalist
• "You Don't Know" - from Dirty White Town by Shoofly - Guest vocalist (1999)
• "So Easy" - from Teddy Thompson by Lead vocalist and composer - Teddy Thompson- Guest vocalist. Co-wrote "Missing Children" and arranged harmony vocal for "Brink of Love" from same album. (2000)
• "Those Were the Days" - from Do You Hear What We Hear? by Kiki & Herb (2000) Co-lead vocalist
• "Complainte de la Butte" - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Moulin Rouge! (2001, Interscope) Lead vocalist
• "Hallelujah" - Soundtrack from Shrek (2001, Dreamworks), and "Soundtrack to the Showtime Original Series The L Word (2004, Tommy Boy) Lead vocalist
• "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Zoolander (2001, Hollywood Records) Lead vocalist
• "Three Angels" and "Mistletoe" from Jordi Rosen-Madame Xavier (2001) Vocalist
• "American Triangle" - backing vocals - track from Elton John's album "Songs From the West Coast" 2001, Universal Records
• "Sonnet 29 - When in Disgrace With Fortune & Men's Eyes.." - from When Love Speaks an album of poetry recitals (2002) EMI Classics)
• "Across the Universe" - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture I Am Sam (2002, V2/BMG) Lead vocalist
• "More Wine" - from Restless Night by Julianna Raye - vocal duet with JR, also co-written. (2002)
• "Scarecrow" - from & by Kristian Hoffman - duet with KH (2002)
• "All I See" - from Fashionably Late by Linda Thompson Guest vocalist (2002)
• "Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk" - Live version from Live at the World Café - Handcrafted Lead vocalist and composer. (2002)
• "Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk" - Live version from 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin Broadcasts Vol 10. (2002) Lead vocalist and composer.
• "California" - Live version from WYEP Live and Direct Volume 4 On Air Performances (2002) Lead vocalist and composer
• “Beauty Mark” from WFUV- City Folk Live VII - performed live in studio (03/09) Lead vocalist and composer (2003)
• "It's Only A Paper Moon" and "I Wonder What Became of Me" - Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen (2003, Sony)
• "The Origin of Love" - Wig in a Box - Songs from and inspired by Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2003, Off Records)
• "Spotlight On Christmas" from Maybe This Christmas Too? (Compilation) - Lead vocalist and composer(2003)
• "Au Fond du Temple Saint" - An aria from Georges Bizet's opera "Les Pêcheurs de Perles" - duet with David Byrne from the album Grown Backwards (2004, Nonesuch)
• "I Eat Dinner (When the Hunger's Gone)" (with Dido) - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004, Geffen Records)
• "I'll Build A Stairway to Paradise" - Soundtrack to the Motion Picture The Aviator (2004, Sony)
• "Those Were the Days" - from Will Die For You by Kiki & Herb (Live at Carnegie Hall) Co-vocalist (2004)
• "What Can I Do?" - Lead vocals on this track from Antony and the Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now (2005, Rough Trade)
• "Don't Forget" and "The Maker" from Martha Wainwright by Martha Wainwright backing vocalist; arranged vocals on "Don't Forget" (2005)
• "My Funny Valentine" Solo vocalist on this track from Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs (2005, Live More Musically)
• "Try Again" - (duet with Tom Chaplin) track from Keane's album Under the Iron Sea, Wireless Festival, London, 2005
• "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters" - from the album If I Were You by Jason Hart - Co-lead vocalist (August 2005)
• "Go Ask Shakespeare" - Solo vocalist on this song from Burt Bacharach 's At This Time album (October 2005, Bmg)
• "Beautiful Child" was used in Michael Showalter's movie, The Baxter, in 2005.
• "Spotlight On Christmas" "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"- Solo vocalist on these songs from The McGarrigle Christmas Hour (Nonsuch, December 2005)
• "Peach Trees" - Soundtrack from the Motion Picture Prime (film) (2005)
• "King of the Road" (duet with Teddy Thompson) and "The Maker Makes" (solo vocalist and composer) - Soundtrack from the Motion Picture Brokeback Mountain (2005, Verve)
• "Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk" - Soundtrack from the Motion Picture The Last Kiss (2006)
• "Casanova in Hell", a live rendition of the song from Pet Shop Boys' Fundamental album, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in May 2006 and repeated later on BBCRadio 6.
• "Katonah" from Plague Songs (October 2006, 4ad)
• "Agnus Dei" is featured in the trailer for the motion picture Trade (2007, Lions Gate Films)
• "Casanova in Hell" features on Concrete, the live Pet Shop Boys album recorded for the BBC released in October 2006 by Parlophone and produced by Trevor Horn

Awards and nominations

Juno Awards

• 1990 - Nominated, Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year
• 1999 - Won, Best Alternative Album, Rufus Wainwright
• 2000 - Nominated, Best Songwriter; "Poses," "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk," and "Grey Gardens"
• 2002 - Won, Best Alternative Album, Poses

Genie Awards

• 1989 - Won, Best Original Song, "I'm A Runnin'"

Other

• 1999 - Outstanding Music Album, GLAAD Media Awards
• 1999 - Debut Album of the Year, Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards
• 2004 - Nominated, Shortlist Music Prize

See also

• Gay icon

External links

• Rufus Wainwright's official website
• Rufus Wainwright official RSS feed'
• Rufus Wainwright at Geffen Records
• NPR Segment about the Rufus/Judy Garland concert at Carnegie Hall
• Biography, Discography, music clips at All Music Guide
• Rufus Wainwright @ KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic"
• A gay.com interview with Rufus Wainwright
• “Crystal clear” Observer Music Monthly / The Guardian. (2005-02-20)
• “The Guardian profile: The Wainwrights” by Richard Jinman of The Guardian. (2005-04-15)
• Metro Weekly interview series
• Rufus Wainwright Lyrics
• Rufus Wainwright Biography
• Red Black Window - A blog focused on RW in a California professor's class
• The Rufus Wainwright Archive - Fan Site
• Trouser Press entry
• Official MySpace Page
• Rufus Wainwright/Brandon Flowers Fan Community