An unlikely star with a powerful voice
Didn’t experience major musical success until she was in her 40s
TORONTO — Rita MacNeil, a singersongwriter from small-town Canada whose powerful voice explored genres from country to folk to gospel, died Tuesday night after complications from surgery. She was 68.
Always seeming an unlikely star, MacNeil worked tirelessly over decades to gradually become a beloved fixture in Canadian culture, with her greatest success coming only after she was in her 40s.
Her spotless, astonishingly full voice carried a light Celtic lilt that only sweetened her tone, but she was a versatile singer who could coax grittier notes from her voice as well.
She was painfully shy and admitted to battling self-confidence issues, largely stemming from her weight. Yet she was a renowned live performer who sold out gigs around the world.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of a dear sweet woman and a gifted singer-songwriter who represented women and her beloved Nova Scotia so eloquently in her songs,” singer Anne Murray said.
Country music legend Tommy Hunter said his “one vivid memory” of MacNeil was when she was a guest on his show.
“Coming from a coal mining area, she had a soft spot in her heart for those miners. When she sang Working Man, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Rita could convey that kind of warmth and sincerity through her songs to the people in the studio audience and to the viewers at home. It was evident that she touched them all from the many letters and comments we received after that show. I have lost a good friend.”
Born in Big Pond, N.S., in 1944, MacNeil grew up with three brothers and four sisters. She fell in love with singing by the age of six, despite her shy disposition and a cleft palate that eventually required surgery.
She relocated to Toronto at age 17 in 1962. Once there, she endured a succession of low-paying jobs, including a retail gig at Eaton’s and a stint as a cleaning woman.
Meanwhile, she turned heads with appearances at Toronto’s famed Riverboat folk club and performances at the Mariposa folk festival but wasn’t earning enough to pay the rent.
While struggling to make ends meet, she found comfort in the fledgling women’s movement. She began attending meetings in Toronto in the early ’70s that she found out — years later — were being monitored by the RCMP.
MacNeil has said these meetings
“I remember her telling me songs would come to her when she didn’t
want them to.”
HALIFAX COMPOSER SCOTT MACMILLAN
gave her strength and pushed forth her songwriting — in fact, after one get-together, she was inspired to write her first song.
By 1975, she was ready to independently release her first album, Born a Woman.
“All of those songs would have been sung at rallies, demonstra- tions or meetings that we attended,” MacNeil said.
She had two children during that time as well — Laura and Wade — though she would eventually divorce their father.
She returned to Big Pond in 1976 and continued writing. In 1981, she issued Part of the Mystery, a record financed by family and friends. Big Pond Publishing and Productions Ltd., was operated on a minuscule budget and was forced to conduct sales on a consignment basis.
Still, MacNeil was building a fan base through her consistently firstrate performances and slowly growing discography. She issued another album, I’m Not What I Seem, in 1983.
Her breakthrough came with 1987’s Flying on Your Own. The album — with a cover featuring MacNeil under one of her trademark floppy hats — finally won her some radio play. It was soon certified platinum, with sales of more than a million copies.
Also in 1987, MacNeil won her first Juno Award as Canada’s “most promising female vocalist” — at age 42.
She didn’t wait long to issue a follow-up, releasing Reason to Believe the following year. Some reviewers thought the record represented a compromise in MacNeil’s sound, with a move toward a more rock-oriented style. MacNeil disputed that, pointing out she always loved rock.
Audiences seemed to embrace MacNeil’s new sound and the record quickly reached platinum status in Canada.
She issued a popular Christmas album later that year and began recording hit records at a torrid pace, with a new release coming near-annually for the next decade.
MacNeil won female vocalist of the year at the 1990 Junos and country female vocalist of the year at the ’91 show.
And she further expanded her reach by launching the CBC-TV variety show Rita & Friends in 1994. The show ran through 1997 and won a Gemini Award.
MacNeil was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1992 and the Order of Nova Scotia in 2005.
Halifax composer and arranger Scott Macmillan says he recalls MacNeil coming to him in the 1980s with a half-dozen songs in her head, often asking him to help put music and arrangement to songs the same day she thought of them.
“I remember her telling me one time songs will come to her when she didn’t want them to, almost like getting a headache,” Macmillan said Wednesday.
“She said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got another song coming.’ ”
While MacNeil had a propensity to generate idea after idea, her music was remarkably succinct, he said.
“She could say in five words what someone else would have to say in about five paragraphs. She would just get right to the heart of the matter.”
Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter praised MacNeil for her passion and her consistent message that dreams can be achieved.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: “Rita McNeil was a great performer and an icon. This is obviously a great loss to the cultural scene in Canada. We want to take a moment to reflect on her career and pass on our condolences to her and her family.
“Rita McNeil was one of Canada’s great singers. It is a big loss for Canada’s cultural scene. She was a big star with fans all over the country. We extend our condolences to her friends and family.”