Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born 22 July 1973) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. He is the son of musicians Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle. Since 1998, he has recorded four albums of original music and several EPs.
Rufus Wainwright during 1988 in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller
Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, USA, to folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (they 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, and in which he also played a minor character, was nominated for the 1988 Genie Award for Best Original Song and earned him a nomination 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 homosexual while still a teen. In the November 11, 1999 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, Rufus 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."
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.
After having been a fixture on the Montreal club circuit, Wainwright cut a series of demo tapes, one of which found itself in the hands of DreamWorks executive Lenny Waronker. The label signed him and he released the self-titled Rufus Wainwright album in the spring of 1998. This album received much critical acclaim in Canada, and was recognized by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the best albums of the year. Wainwright's second album, Poses (2001), brought similar acclaim.
Wainwright's first main exposure to the American public came as an opener to singer Tori Amos in 2001 and 2002. He garnered praise for his performance and began touring as a main act shortly afterwards. He has frequently toured as the opener for Sting and co-headlined with Ben Folds and Guster in the summer of 2004. He still 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.
In addition to being a pianist, Wainwright is a guitarist, often switching between the two instruments when performing live; however, his mastery of the guitar does not approach his talent with the piano within the Piano rock genre. While some of his most moving songs feature just Wainwright with his piano, many of his songs display complex layering and harmonies, occasionally comprising hundreds of individual parts. Wainwright is an avid opera fan, and the influences on his music are evident, as well as his love of Schubert 'Lieder'; his music has been described as "Popera" (Pop Opera) or "Baroque Pop." 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"). Wainwright is a recovering crystal meth addict and a rape survivor; he uses the press to bring awareness to these societal problems.
His talent has been widely recognized and praised by such artists as Elton John, Morrissey, John Mayer, and Sting, and he continues to influence artists like Keane, Alanis Morissette, Scissor Sisters, and Ben Folds.
Wainwright's most recent 'new' 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 pair of Want albums was 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 Mus 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.
As well as Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, Wainwright has appeared in the films The Aviator and Heights. Rufus has music in the film Brokeback Mountain, for which he recorded "The Maker Makes" and "King of the Road", as well as a minor cameo as a guitar player. Rufus is managed by Barry Taylor and Paula Quijano, and his publicist is Barbara Charone.
Wainwright's music contains several persistent themes, which have continued to evolve across his entire body of work. While many of his songs contain passing references to homosexuality and gay innuendos, to date, none of his songs have been expressly about homosexuality. Instead, he describes many points along the emotional path of falling in love, from initial infatuation to a fleeting glance to outright love, and casually suggests that the object of his affection is also male. However, many of his songs contain phallic references ("Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk"), making it largely impossible for anyone but a gay man to author or perform his songs.
Symbollically, Wainwright seems persistently facinated by images of trains and distant geography. These may suggest emotional discontentment and restlessness.
Perhaps the most subtle theme evident in his music is constant reference to and reference with religious imagery, which perhaps culminated in Want Two with both "Agnus Dei" and "Gay Messiah." The broadest implications of these references and, in light of a close reading of "Gay Messiah," suggest that Wainwright considers homosexuals to have a special position with a Christian cosmology.
