Rufus Wainwright

Fact Sheet

Musical genre:	Singer-songwriter
Birthday	22 July 1973 (36)
Sign	Cancer
Birthplace	USA

Rufus Wainwright is an openly gay American singer-songwriter. He is perhaps best known for his rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", as featured in the movie Shrek.

Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York to Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle.

Despite being born in the US, Rufus strongly identifies with Canada and often visits there, having lived in Montreal with his mother for most of his childhood years. He is equally as well-versed on guitar as he is piano, often switching between them when performing live.

His first main exposure to the general public came as an opener to singer Tori Amos. He garnered great praise for his performance and began touring as a main act shortly afterwards.

Wainwright's latest release, 'Want One', highlights his musical prowess by exhibiting both challenging vocals and a keen mastery of sound and tone layering.

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