- Rita MacNeil
Infobox musical artist
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Name = Rita MacNeil
Img_capt = Rita MacNeil album
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Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Rita MacNeil
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1944|05|28Big Pond, Nova Scotia
Died =
Instruments = Vocals
Genre = Country/Folk
Occupation =Singer
Years_active = 1975 – Present
Label =
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.ritamacneil.com/ www.ritamacneil.com]Rita MacNeil CM ONS (born
May 28 ,1944 ) is aCanadian country and folk singer from the community of Big Pond onNova Scotia 'sCape Breton Island . Her biggest hit, "Flying On Your Own", was a crossoverTop 40 hit in 1987 and was covered byAnne Murray the following year, although she has had hits on the country charts throughout her career. In theUnited Kingdom , MacNeil's song "Working Man" was a surprise #11 smash in 1990.She has continued to be a popular figure in Canadian music. In 1990, she was the bestselling country artist in Canada, outselling even
Garth Brooks andClint Black . She is also the only female singer ever to have three separate albums chart in the same year inAustralia .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. She also runs a tea room in her hometown of Big Pond, which has become one ofCape Breton Island 's most popular tourist attractions.She was made a Member of the
Order of Canada in 1992 and was awarded theOrder 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. She is mentioned in Nova Scotia fiction writer Barry Wood's short story "Nowhere to Go", published in England'sPostscripts #14 in 2008.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. [cite web|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080804/rcmp_women_spying_080804/20080804?hub=TopStories|title=RCMP spied on Rita MacNeil, feminists in 1970s|accessdate=2008-08-05|publisher=CTV News ]Discography
References
External links
* [http://www.ritamacneil.com/index.htm Rita MacNeil's home page]
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