Rufus Wainwright

Rufus was born to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright lll. At the age of 3 his parents divorced and Rufus lived with his mother. He learnt the piano at an early age, and got a taste for the stage from touring with his sister Martha, mother and Aunt Kate who were in a folk group known as "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family".

At the age of 14 he wrote and sang the song, "I'm a Runnin'" in the film Tommy Tricker and The Stamp Traveller. This got him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award for Best Original Song. He was nominated for a 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year.

Rufus got his main break from doing shows at Cafe Sarajevo and working on the Montreal club circuit. He managed to make some demo tapes, and thanks to his father, he passed them on to some of his musical contacts which lead to him being signed to a record deal.

In 1998 "Rufus Wainwright", self entitled debut album was released, giving him rave reviews and winning him several awards.

Whilst living in the Chelsea Hotel in NYC for six months, he managed to write most of his second album, "Poses", which was released in 2001. Again winning various awards, one of which was for the song "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk". Although winning awards he only had limited sales.

Following on from releasing "Want One" (2003) and "Want Two" (2004) came the albums "Release The Stars", which reached number 2 in the UK charts, and "Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall", which saw him perform Judy Garland's entire concert album from The Carnegie Hall in 1961.

His latest creation is an opera entitled "Prima Donna" about an opera singer who is anxiously preparing for her comeback.