9/18/2023 0 Comments Rita macneil pallbearers![]() ![]() The awards kept coming as well, with MacNeil winning multiple Canadian Country Music Association awards and East Coast Music Awards trophies. She was determined right from an early age,” he said. “She was such a trooper and the fans meant so much to her. In all, she recorded 24 albums, including Chiristmas collections and greatest hits packages.Įdwards says MacNeil never stopped working and would perform even when she wasn’t feeling well, quietly hiding any illness in order to allow a show to go on. She continued to work tirelessly from that point on, putting out a new recording almost annually for the next decade. MacNeil won her first Juno Award that year, being named Canada's "most promising female vocalist" – an odd designation, given that by that time, MacNeil was already 42. Her breakthrough finally came after she performed at Expo ’86 in Vancouver, and then released the album "Flying on Your Own." The songs about the hardships of everyday people soon found their way onto easy-listening radio stations across Canada and it wasn’t long before the album went platinum. The album was a local success and she slowly built a fanbase with regular and rousing performances. In 1975, MacNeil decided to record her first album with money donated by family and friends. Though she played small gigs in local folk music clubs, she never seemed to be able to break through with big success, and had to supplement her singing jobs with work as a retail clerk and cleaning woman.ĭuring this time, she married and had two children, but divorced her husband after six years and moved back to Big Pond, N.S. She decided to try to make a career of it in 1962, when she moved to Toronto at the age of 17. ![]() MacNeil was blessed with a full, sweet voice with a light Celtic lilt and fell in love with singing at an early age. “Rita had a lot of adversity in her life to overcome and it’s just so admirable she was able to do what she did,” Murray told Canada AM. “…But then when she walked out on that stage, watch out, because she was in full control.”įellow Nova Scotian-bred singing legend Anne Murray, who appeared on a number of TV specials with MacNeil, called her “a dear sweet woman” and “a good soul” whose fans were devoted to her. “Rita was as nervous as can be before every show,” he said. But Edwards said all that would fade away when MacNeil would step out on stage. MacNeil was known to be painfully shy and admitted in her autobiography to having self-confidence issues, largely stemming from the abuse she suffered as a child as well as her weight. “We did over 400 shows together and I mentioned on my Facebook page last night that each and every one was very special, because there was no one more real and genuine than Rita MacNeil,” Edwards said. Even after 24 albums, hundreds of shows, and dozens of awards, MacNeil always remained humble, he said. And then all of a sudden, around 11:30 last night, they called to say she had slipped away.”Īlways the reticent and perhaps unlikely star, MacNeil was one of the hardest workers Edwards says he had ever seen. “Her vital signs were good, there was no brain damage, none of that stuff. “There was a lot of hope over the last couple of days,” he said. “The operation itself went well and then shortly afterward, she went into a coma and never actually came out of it,” Edwards told CTV’s Canada AM Wednesday morning from St Petersburg, Florida. She was advised to undergo what he described as a “routine surgery,” but then developed complications during the recovery. MacNeil’s longtime promoter, Brian Edwards, says MacNeil had entered hospital a few days ago because of an infection. Rita MacNeil, the Canadian singer-songwriter from Cape Breton with the sweetly powerful voice, passed away Tuesday night following complications from surgery. ![]()
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