Loreena McKennitt

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About Loreena McKennitt

Singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt grew up with dreams of becoming a veterinarian, but she took a different path after she discovered Celtic and folk music while briefly at university. ∙ Independent from the start, in 1985 she founded her own label, Quinlan Road, after reading Diane Sward Rapaport’s influential book How to Make and Sell Your Own Recording. ∙ With total album sales topping 14 million, McKennitt has picked up numerous Gold and Platinum certifications, with 1991’s The Visit selling more than 500,000 copies in Canada alone. ∙ Beginning with 1994’s Celtic and Arabic-influenced The Mask and the Mirror, she’s topped Billboard’s World Albums chart five times. ∙ McKennitt has been nominated for 2 Grammy Awards and 11 Juno Awards, winning 2 of the latter for Best Roots & Traditional Album in 1992 and 1995. ∙ Her 1999 LP, Live from Paris and Toronto, raised nearly $3 million for The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety, which she set up after the death of her fiancé and two friends. ∙ McKennitt performed for Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, headlining a Winnipeg concert honoring her Golden Jubilee and was named a member of the Order of Canada two years later.

HOMETOWN
Morden, Manitoba, Canada
BORN
17 February 1957
GENRE
Worldwide

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