Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. Since 1998, he has recorded five albums of original music, several EPs, and numerous tracks included on compilations and film soundtracks. Wainwright, is the son of Canadian singer Kate McGarrigle and singer-actor Loudon Wainwright III, brother of Martha Wainwright, and half-brother of Lucy Wainwright Roche.
His parents divorced when he was a child, and he lived with his mother in Montreal, Canada for most of his youth. Wainwright is both a U.S and Canadian citizen. He attended high school at the Millbrook School in upstate New York (which would later inspire his song "Millbrook") and later briefly studied classical and modern piano at Concordia and McGill Universities in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He began playing the piano at age six and started touring at thirteen with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family" (a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna). His song "I'm A-Runnin'", which he performed in the movie Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award (for Best Original Song). He was also nominated for a 1990 Canadian Juno Award (for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year).
Wainwright came out as gay while still a teenager. In 1999, he told Rolling Stone that his father recognized his son's homosexuality early on. "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 later said in another interview that his "mother and father could not even handle me being gay. We never talked about it really."
Wainwright became interested in opera during his adolescent years and the genre strongly influences his music. (For instance, his track "Barcelona" features lyrics written by Giuseppe Verdi.) During this time, he also became deeply interested in Édith Piaf, Al Jolson and Judy Garland.
At age 14, Wainwright was sexually assaulted in London's Hyde Park after picking up a man at a bar. He remained chaste for five years after the incident. Elsewhere, however, he claims it made him promiscuous. In an interview years later, he described the event: "I said I wanted to go to the park and see where this big concert was going on. I thought it was going to be a romantic walk in the park, but he raped me and robbed me afterwards and tried to strangle me". Wainwright claims that he survived only by pretending to be an epileptic and faking a seizure
Through weekly shows at Cafe Sarajevo, Wainwright became a fixture on the Montreal club circuit and eventually cut a series of demo tapes produced by Pierre Marchand (who also produced Wainwright's later album, Poses) - DreamWorks executive Lenny Waronker acquired the demo tapes and signed Wainwright to his label. The singer moved to New York City in the spring of 1996 and began performing regularly at Club Fez, building a loyal local audience. He relocated to Los Angeles that fall, and began recording his first studio album, 1998's Rufus Wainwright.
Wainwright's self-titled debut received critical acclaim; Rolling Stone magazine recognized it as one of the best albums of the year and named the singer "Best New Artist" of the year. Wainwright toured with Sean Lennon in the summer of 1998 and began his first headline tour later that year. In December 1998, he appeared in a Gap commercial directed by Phil Harder, performing Frank Loesser's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?". The promotion increased dramatically both his visibility and his record sales. On March 1, 1999 Wainwright started a headlining tour at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey.
"Hallelujah" written by Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen - performed by Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Does Judy Garland
On June 10, 2006, NPR's Weeken Edition Saturday broadcast an interview of Wainwright by Scott Simon. The segment concerned Wainwright's sold-out pair of Carnegie Hall shows June 14 & 15, 2006 in which he performed the entire Judy Garland concert album recorded there in 1961. He later repeated his performance at the London Palladium, the Paris Olympia, and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Live CD and DVD recordings of the concerts were released on December 4, 2007. The DVD is titled Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live From the London Palladium. The CD album, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, is a recording of his show at that legendary New York venue.
In 2008, Garland's daughter Lorna Luft indicated her strong approval of Wainwright's recordings of her mother's songs.
In addition to his baritone singing voice, he plays both piano and the guitar, often 
switching between the two instruments when performing live. While some of his songs feature just Wainwright with his piano, his later work is often accompanied by rock instrumentation or a symphony orchestra, displaying complex layering and harmonies with an operatic feel. Wainwright is an avid opera fan, and the influences on his music are evident, as well as his love of Franz Schubert's Lieder. Some of Wainwright's songs have been described as "Popera" (Pop Opera) or "Baroque Pop". Many of his compositions are densely packed, dizzying amalgams of strings, horns, operatic choruses, ragtime rhythms and his own distinctively warm vocal timbre.
He performed "King of the Road" (duet with Teddy Thompson) on - Brokeback Mountain in 2005
Awards and nominations
Genie Awards
1989 - Nominated, Best Original Song, I'm A-Runnin'
Juno Awards
Source is the Juno Awards database
1990 - Nominated, Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year
1999 - Won, Best Alternative Album; Rufus Wainwright
2002 - Nominated, Best Songwriter; "Poses," "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk," and "Grey Gardens"
2002 - Won, Best Alternative Album; Poses
2005 - Nominated, Adult Alternative Album of the Year; Want Two
2008 - Nominated, Adult Alternative Album of the Year; Release the Stars
2008 - Nominated, Songwriter of the Year; "Going to a Town" / "Release the Stars" / "Do I Disappoint You?"
Other
1999 - Outstanding Music Album, GLAAD Media Awards
1999 - Debut Album of the Year, Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards
2004 - Nominated, Shortlist Music Prize
2008 - Outstanding Music Artist, GLAAD Media Awards (Release the Stars)
2008 - Nominated, Brit Award Best International Male Artist
2008 - Nominated, Meteor Award Best International Male Artist
*Wikipedia
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