Rita MacNeil
Encyclopedia
Rita MacNeil, CM
, ONS
(born May 28, 1944) is a Canadian country
and folk
singer from the community of Big Pond
on Nova Scotia
's Cape Breton Island
. Her biggest hit, "Flying On Your Own", was a crossover Top 40 hit in 1987 and was covered by Anne Murray
the following year, although she has had hits on the country charts throughout her career. In the United Kingdom
, MacNeil's song "Working Man" was a #11 hit
in 1990.
In 1990, she was the bestselling country artist in Canada, outselling even Garth Brooks
and Clint Black
. She is also the only female singer ever to have three separate albums chart in the same year in Australia
.
A native of Big Pond
, Cape Breton County, MacNeil first performed on stage in 1971, and recorded her first album, Born a Woman, in 1975. She performed at folk festivals throughout the 1970s and 1980s, culminating in her major label debut and pop breakthrough in 1987.
MacNeil hosted a CBC Television
variety show
, Rita and Friends
, from 1994 to 1997. The show won a Gemini Award
in 1996. She also runs a tea room in her hometown of Big Pond, which has become one of Cape Breton Island
's most popular tourist attractions.
She was made a Member of the Order of Canada
in 1992 and was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia
in 2005.
She was featured in a Season 4 episode of Trailer Park Boys
, wherein she and her band are forced to harvest marijuana.
Research done by historians Steve Hewitt and Christabelle Sethna on documents from the now-defunct Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service
have revealed accounts of the force having spied on feminists, including MacNeil, during the 1970s.
MacNeil wrote her memoirs On A Personal Note with Anne Simpson in 1998, which was published by Key Porter Books
.
Flying On Her Own, a play based on MacNeil's life and featuring many of her songs, premiered at Live Bait Theatre
in Sackville, NB in 2000. Written by Canadian playwright Charlie Rhindress
, it was subsequently produced by Neptune Theatre
in Halifax, NS in 2002 and published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2008.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, ONS
Order of Nova Scotia
The Order of Nova Scotia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on 2 August 2001, when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova Scotia Act, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
(born May 28, 1944) is a Canadian country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
singer from the community of Big Pond
Big Pond, Nova Scotia
Big Pond is a community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada on the south shore of Bras d'Or Lake. Big Pond is approximately in the center between the communities of St...
on Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
's Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
. Her biggest hit, "Flying On Your Own", was a crossover Top 40 hit in 1987 and was covered by Anne Murray
Anne Murray
Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....
the following year, although she has had hits on the country charts throughout her career. In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, MacNeil's song "Working Man" was a #11 hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in 1990.
In 1990, she was the bestselling country artist in Canada, outselling even Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
and Clint Black
Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...
. She is also the only female singer ever to have three separate albums chart in the same year in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
A native of Big Pond
Big Pond, Nova Scotia
Big Pond is a community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada on the south shore of Bras d'Or Lake. Big Pond is approximately in the center between the communities of St...
, Cape Breton County, MacNeil first performed on stage in 1971, and recorded her first album, Born a Woman, in 1975. She performed at folk festivals throughout the 1970s and 1980s, culminating in her major label debut and pop breakthrough in 1987.
MacNeil hosted a CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
, Rita and Friends
Rita and Friends
Rita and Friends is a Canadian television variety show, which aired on CBC Television from 1994 to 1997. The show was hosted by Canadian country/folk singer Rita MacNeil...
, from 1994 to 1997. The show won a Gemini Award
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
in 1996. She also runs a tea room in her hometown of Big Pond, which has become one of Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
's most popular tourist attractions.
She was made a Member of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
in 1992 and was awarded the Order of Nova Scotia
Order of Nova Scotia
The Order of Nova Scotia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Instituted on 2 August 2001, when Lieutenant Governor Myra Freeman granted Royal Assent to the Order of Nova Scotia Act, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
in 2005.
She was featured in a Season 4 episode of Trailer Park Boys
Trailer Park Boys
Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian comedy mockumentary television series created and directed by Mike Clattenburg that focuses on the misadventures of a group of trailer park residents, some of whom are ex-convicts, living in the fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The...
, wherein she and her band are forced to harvest marijuana.
Research done by historians Steve Hewitt and Christabelle Sethna on documents from the now-defunct Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service
RCMP Security Service
The RCMP Security Service is the former branch of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police which had responsibilities of domestic intelligence and security for Canada...
have revealed accounts of the force having spied on feminists, including MacNeil, during the 1970s.
MacNeil wrote her memoirs On A Personal Note with Anne Simpson in 1998, which was published by Key Porter Books
Key Porter Books
Key Porter Books is a Canadian book publishing company. Founded in 1979 by Canadian publisher Anna Porter and Key Publishers Limited of Toronto, the company specializes in Canadian non-fiction, although it has published some fiction titles as well. A controlling share of the company was purchased...
.
Flying On Her Own, a play based on MacNeil's life and featuring many of her songs, premiered at Live Bait Theatre
Live Bait Theatre
Live Bait Theatre is a professional theatre company based in Sackville, New Brunswick, in Canada. Established in 1988, it continues to have a vested interest in supporting and encouraging both up-and-coming and well-known Maritime actors and playwrights....
in Sackville, NB in 2000. Written by Canadian playwright Charlie Rhindress
Charlie Rhindress
Charlie Rhindress is an actor, playwright and director living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Born in Amherst, Nova Scotia and educated at Mount Allison University, he is a co-founder and former Artistic Director of Live Bait Theatre, based in Sackville, New Brunswick...
, it was subsequently produced by Neptune Theatre
Neptune Theatre
The Neptune Theatre, built in 1913, is one of many theatres in Liverpool, England. It has been threatened with closure several times, and is currently not in use. The theatre seats 445 on its two levels.-History:...
in Halifax, NS in 2002 and published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2008.
Albums
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | CRIA Cria A cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN Country | CAN | |||
| 1975 | Born a Woman | |||
| 1981 | Part of the Mystery | |||
| 1983 | I'm Not What I Seem | |||
| 1987 | Flying On Your Own | 27 | 2× Platinum | |
| 1988 | Reason to Believe | 20 | 2× Platinum | |
| Now the Bells Ring | 3× Platinum | |||
| 1989 | Rita | 31 | 2× Platinum | |
| 1990 | Home I'll Be | 22 | 2× Platinum | |
| 1992 | Thinking of You | 19 | 19 | Platinum |
| 1993 | Once Upon a Christmas | 44 | Platinum | |
| 1994 | Volume 1: Songs from the Collection | 31 | Platinum | |
| 1995 | Porch Songs | Gold | ||
| 1996 | Joyful Sounds | |||
| 1997 | Music of a Thousand Nights | |||
| 1998 | Full Circle | |||
| 1999 | A Night at the Orpheum | |||
| 2000 | Mining the Soul | Gold | ||
| 2002 | Late December | |||
| Common Dream | ||||
| 2004 | The Ultimate Collection | |||
| Blue Roses | ||||
| 2006 | Songs My Mother Loved | |||
| 2008 | Pocket Full of Dreams | |||
| 2010 | The Spirit of Christmas |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN Country | CAN AC | CAN | |||
| 1987 | "Flying On Your Own" | — | — | 42 | Flying On Your Own |
| "Used to You" | — | 18 | — | ||
| "Fast Train to Tokyo" | — | 14 | — | ||
| 1988 | "Leave Her Memory" | 32 | — | — | |
| "Working Man" | * | 21 | — | Reason to Believe | |
| "Walk On Through" | * | — | 85 | ||
| 1989 | "I'll Accept the Rose" | 9 | — | — | Rita |
| "We'll Reach the Sky Tonight" | — | 3 | 81 | ||
| 1990 | "Crazy Love" | — | 6 | — | |
| "When Love Surrounded You and I" | 31 | — | — | ||
| "Why Do I Think of You Today" | 17 | — | — | ||
| "You Taught Me Well" | — | 6 | 64 | Home I'll Be | |
| 1991 | "Watch Love Grow Strong" | 9 | — | — | |
| "Call Me and I'll Be There" | — | 14 | 81 | ||
| 1992 | "Bring It On Home to Me" | 44 | 8 | 69 | Thinking of You |
| 1993 | "Shining Strong" | 23 | 5 | — | |
| 1995 | "Steal Me Away" | — | — | — | Porch Songs |
| "Rolling Thunder" | — | 16 | 87 |