Loreena McKennitt, C.M., (b. February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer, harpist and pianist. She writes and performs Celtic-style music with a new-age feel.

Biography

McKennitt was born in Morden, Manitoba of Irish and Scottish descent to parents Jack and Irene McKennitt.

McKennitt moved to Stratford, Ontario in 1981, where she still lives, and released her first album, Elemental, in 1985. She began to garner global attention with subsequent releases of self-produced work, including To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987), Parallel Dreams (1989), The Visit (1991), The Mask and Mirror (1994), A Winter Garden (1995) and The Book of Secrets (1997). Her single The Mummers' Dance was a widespread success, receiving considerable airplay in North American markets during spring 1997. All of her work has been released under her own label, Quinlan Road.

In 1995, her version of the traditional Irish song Bonny Portmore was prominently featured in the sci-fi/fantasy film Highlander 3 and Highlander: The Series episode Homeland, causing a large increase of her album sales, especially among fans.

Tragedy struck in 1998 when McKennitt's fiancé Ronald Rees and two others close to her drowned during a boating accident. She was deeply affected by the tragedy, founding the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund the same year, and releasing an album of two live performances called Live in Paris and Toronto, in which all of the profits were donated to the fund. Since then, McKennitt has released no new recordings and has only occasionally performed live.

In July 2004, Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson made her a member of the Order of Canada, the most prestigious civilian honour in Canada.

In late 2004, fan hopes of a long-awaited re-emergence were buoyed by a rare concert appearance for the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation on December 7, 2004, at Brussels' Cirque Royal and notes on the Quinlan Road website about inspiration for new material. In addition, she performed at the Edmonton Folk Festival on August 4, 2005. McKennitt talked about research in Turkey and Greece, as well as China and Mongolia. In a recent Quinlan Road newsletter, she is quoted as writing, "I am presently in the thick of the research and writing phase for my next studio recording. All being well, I hope to be in the studio this year enjoying the creative companionship of some fine musicians."

In July of 2005, Loreena spent some time at Real World Studios, recording new songs for her next album. According to the Quinlan Road website, "We recorded three songs during this adventure and sketched out a few more." The recording session included collaborations between McKennitt and a musical band from Greece, along with other performers. According to her official website Loreena's new album will be released in the fall of 2006.

McKennitt's music has been officially classified as World/New Age/Celtic Music even though it contains aspects and characteristics of music from around the globe. Each album contains songs from different cultures and could therefore not be classified.

Before McKennitt composes any music she engages in massive research on a specific subject which forms the general concept of the album. Before creating Elemental and Parallel Dreams she travelled to Ireland for inspiration from the country's history, geography and culture. The album The Mask and Mirror was preceded by research in Spain where she engaged in studying Galicia, a Celtic section of Spain, along with its abundant Arabic roots, thus creating an album including elements of both Celtic and Arabic music.

McKennitt is often compared to Enya, but is more grounded in traditional and classical invocations using literary works as sources of lyrics and springboards for interpretation such as The Lady of Shalott by Lord Tennyson, Prospero's Speech, the final soliloquy in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Snow by Archibald Lampman, William Blakes Prospero, intended for a dramatic piece of King Edward the fourth and The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes.

Her next full-length album, An Ancient Muse, is expected to be released in the autumn of 2006. An introduction to the new album in the shape of an electronic card can be viewed at her official website.

Discography

Albums

• Elemental (1985)
• To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987)
• Parallel Dreams (1989)
• The Visit (1991)
• The Mask and Mirror (1994)
• The Book of Secrets (1997)
• Live in Paris and Toronto (1999)
• An Ancient Muse (2006)

Shorter recordings

• A Winter Garden: Five Songs for the Season (1995)
• Live in San Francisco (1995)
• Words and Music (1997)

Singles

• "The Mummers' Dance" (1997) #18 US HOT 100
• "Marco Polo" (1998)

Videos

• "The Mummers' Dance" (1997)
• "The Bonny Swans"

Other

• No Journeys End (half-hour profile, aired on PBS; DVD)

This biography was taken verbatim from the Wikipedia. We're providing a snapshot just in case the Wikipedia servers were temporarily unreacheable. The original page is not only much more up-to-date, it also features links to other pages and sites. This snapshot was last updated: 09/05/2006. (mm/dd/yyyy)