17. Rufus Wainwright
Canadian-American singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright was born into an extremely talented family. His parents are folk singer Kate McGarrigle and actorLoudon Wainwright III and his sister is the folk-rock singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright. At an early age Rufus developed a love for opera and a proclivity for songwriting. He learned to play both the piano and guitar and developed his own musical style called “popera” or “baroque pop.” In 1998 Wainwright released his first studio album, Rufus Wainwright, which received critical acclaim. Rolling Stone magazine recognized it as one of the best albums of the year and named the singer the “Best New Artist” of 1998. His follow up 2001 release Poses earned Wainwright his second GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album and a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album. In June 2007, Wainwright participated in the LOGO sponsored, multi-artist True Colors Tour, alongside Cyndi Lauper, the Indigo Girls, Erasure and others. In 2007, Wainwright performed at Carnegie Hall the entire Judy Garland concert Garland famously performed there in 1961. The album for the concert, aptly titled Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Wainwright is one of the first artists to begin his career openly gay. He came out to his family as a teenager, who he says did not take so well to the news initially, “mother and father could not handle me being gay. We never talked about it really.” In January 2010 Wainwright’s mother sadly lost her battle to cancer. In April 2010, Wainwright publicly voiced his opinion in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States due to his desire to marry his partner of five years, German arts administrator Jörn Weisbrodt.
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