Big Pond, Nova Scotia, Canada

May 28, 1944

A folksinger/songwriter since she was 17, Rita MacNeil recorded the independent album Born a Woman in 1975. Two more independent LPs followed (Part of the Mystery in 1981 and I'm Not What I Seem in 1983) before she signed with Virgin and released Flying on Your Own in 1987. A member of the Order of Canada since 1992, MacNeil has also released Reason to Believe (1988), Rita (1989), Now the Bells Ring (1989), Home I'll Be (1990), Thinking of You (1992) and Once upon a Christmas (1993). ~ John Bush