(born 1945), Canadian vocalist. Anne Murray emerged from a small town in Canada to become an international star and one of the most successful crossover artists of all time. During a career that began in the late 1960s and spanned three decades, Murray had over 50 country and 30 pop hits and produced an average of an album a year. Best known for her smash hit ‘Snowbird' (1970), she won numerous pop and country awards and scored numerous platinum albums in North America and elsewhere. Morna Anne Murray was born on June 20, 1945, in the small Canadian coal-mining town of Springhill, N.S. She was one of six children—and the only daughter—born to physician James Carson Murray and his wife Marion Margaret, a trained nurse. A fan of folk and pop music, she began singing at an early age and by 15 had performed in public for the first time. During her second year at the University of New Brunswick, where she received a degree in physical education, she auditioned for Sing Along Jubilee, a Canadian television show. Although she did not get the job immediately, the show's cohost and associate producer, William (Bill) Stewart Langstroth, sought her out several years later and offered her a position. In 1975 they married; later they settled in Toronto and had two children, William and Dawn. Recording her debut album, What About Me (1968), convinced Murray to give up her career in physical education and pursue music professionally. Her first release after signing with Capitol Records was This Is My Way (1969), but she had her first major hit with ‘Snowbird' (1970), a top-ten country and pop single in the United States and the United Kingdom. Murray appeared regularly on the American television series Glen Campbell's Goodtime Hour, and she and Campbell released a duet album and toured together in 1971. During the next decade Murray had many hit singles on both the country and pop charts, including ‘Danny's Song' (1973), written by Kenny Loggins; ‘Love Song' (1973), the title track of her Grammy-winning album; ‘You Won't See Me' (1974); ‘He Thinks I Still Care' (1974); the Grammy-winning ‘You Needed Me' (1979); and ‘I Just Fall In Love Again' (1979). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Murray continued to release successful, country-inspired singles and albums, though she preferred to be known as an entertainer rather than as a country singer. Her hit singles included ‘A Little Good News' (1983), ‘Nobody Loves Me like You Do' (1985), a duet with Dave Loggins; and ‘If I Ever Fall in Love' (1989), a duet with Kenny Rogers. In addition to her hew material, she released various compilations of her work; the most comprehensive was Now & Forever (1995), a 64-track, three-CD box set dedicated to her two teenage children. Although she toured extensively and performed often in Las Vegas, Murray remained deeply connected to her homeland. The Anne Murray Centre in her hometown of Springhill, which opened in 1989 and became a popular tourist destination, featured audiovisual displays highlighting Murray's career. |