Canadians Kate and Anna McGarrigle wrote beautiful songs and delivered them just as well. Here is the start of the profile at their website:
Singers/songwriters Kate and Anna McGarrigle have performed to critical and popular acclaim throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East for three decades. Their albums have earned record of the year awards from Melody Maker, Stereo Review, and The New York Times, among others. Their songs have been widely recorded by other artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, and Nana Mouskouri.
Kate and Anna were born in Montreal of mixed English- and French-Canadian background, and grew up in the Laurentian Mountains village of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Québec. They took piano lessons from the village nuns, and family singing sessions around the living room piano were a regular occurrence.
In the 1960s, Kate studied engineering at McGill University, and Anna painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. At the same time, they became stars on the city’s folk music scene, and soon began to compose their own songs. When some of these songs found their way into the repertoires of established artists, Kate and Anna were invited to record their own album, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, for Warner Bros. The elegance of their vocal harmonies, and the variety and originality of their music, delighted critics and fans alike, and the album earned international praise. (Continue Reading…)
Kate McGarrigle died in 2010. The sister’s discography is here. Rufus Wainwright, by the way, is the son of Kate and Loudon Wainwright III. Above is Love Over and Over and below is Going Back to Harlan. Another great song — and name of their second album (released in 1977) is Dancer with Bruised Knees. It is not featured above or below because there is nothing more boring than a shot of an album cover.
