Kate McGarrigle, Rufus and Martha Wainwright’s Mother, Dies At 63
By Seraphina L.
Kate McGarrigle, Canadian folk singer and mother of musicians Rufus and Martha Wainwright, passed away Monday night at the age of 63. According to Reuters, McGarrigle had been suffering from clear cell sarcoma cancer for over three years.
Her sister, Anna, who was also a member of the songwriting team, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, shared the news on their official website:
“Sadly our sweet Kate had to leave us last night. She departed in a haze of song and love surrounded by family and good friends. She is irreplaceable and we are broken-hearted. Till we meet again dear sister.”
Her son and musician, Rufus Wainwright, wrote the following thoughts on his own website as well:
“When inevitably I read today in the papers that my mother lost her battle with cancer last night, I am filled with an immense desire to add that this battle, though lost, was tremendously fruitful during these last three and a half years of her life. She witnessed her daughter’s marriage, the creation of my first opera, the birth of her first grandchild Arcangelo, and gave the greatest performance of her life to a packed crowd at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Not to mention traveling to some of the world’s most incredible places with both my sister, her husband Brad, my boyfriend Jorn and myself. Yes, it was all too brief, but as I was saying to her sister Anna last night while sitting by her body after the struggle had ceased, there is never enough time and she, my amazing mother with whom everyone fell in love, went out there and bloody did it. I will miss you mother, my sweet and valiant explorer, lebwohl and adio. X”
As Reuters reports, Ann and Kate McGarrigle had their first hit with “Heart Like a Wheel,” which was made popular when recorded by pop singer, Linda Rondstat in 1974. The pair released 10 studio albums with some of them recorded in French.
She was married to US singer-songwriter, Loudon Wainright III before the two divorced later.
Our thoughts are with the Wainwright and McGarrigle family and we thank McGarrigle for passing her musical talents down onto her children.
Photo courtesy of mcgarrigles.com
