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| Birth Name(s) : Katherine Dawn Lang |
Date of Birth: November 2, 1961 |
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| Profession:
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Full K.D. Lang Biography
"It certainly has been a long and winding road," she says with a laugh. "Some periods certainly worked better than others, but they were all completely honest and real for me. I have no regrets about anything I've ever done. Going back to those periods of time is an absolute pleasure because it allows me to relive the utter joy of discovery and the commitment I made to every song I've ever written or recorded."
And what a phenomenal catalogue of material the Canada native has created. As founder and frontwoman for her groundbreaking ensemble The Reclines, and through her own brilliant solo career, k.d. has offered some of the most memorable music of our time. Along the way, she has garnered a mountain of awards, including multiple GRAMMYs.
While the next road to be traveled remains a secret, k.d. notes that live by request has reminded her of how much she adores performing country music. "Going back to 'Trail of Broken Hearts' and 'Pullin' Back The Reins' was tremendous fun," she says. "There's a wonderful purity to those songs - and to the country genre, in general. I loved making country music, and I'm pleased that these songs have held up well with time. They're like wonderful old friends."
Those "old friends" have also been the catalyst for some of k.d.'s strongest performances. Case in point, her reading of Roy Orbison's "Crying," which she delivers on live by request with stunning beauty. "There's something about that song. Each time I sing it, it's almost as if the song takes control of my body and my voice. It's always a wildly emotional experience. I don't think I'll ever tire of singing it."
She insists that she'll also never tire of donning tunes from her massively successful Ingenue. "Hey, it has my only really big hit!," she says with a laugh, referring to the worldwide smash "Constant Craving." "But, seriously, it also is one of those recordings where it felt like everything just fell into place. Sometimes, music is unexplainable. You can try to control it, but it ultimately follows its own pace and evolution. Ingenue took on a special life of its own."
Actually, that's an accurate overall description of lang's career. She agrees that she hasn't followed a traditional path... and that's just fine with her. "Every career has its triumphs and disappointments. I'm a lucky woman. I've been blessed with a wonderfully satisfying career. It's full of surprises and I love that."
Among those surprises was the opportunity to share the stage this year with the legendary Tony Bennett for a tour of the States. "It just doesn't get much better than that," k.d. says, beaming. "I can't even begin to say how much it means to me. He's an amazing, gracious man. I keep wondering to myself, where does one go from here?"
If you're k.d. lang, you conquer yet another creative mountain, adding one more element to a career filled with achievements. |
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Additional K.D. Lang Biography
K.D. Lang OC (or k.d. lang, born Kathryn Dawn Lang on November 2, 1961) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter.
Lang was born November 2, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta to Audrey and Fred Lang. The family moved to Consort, Alberta, when she was nine months old, and there she grew up with her 2 sisters and 1 brother, on the Canadian prairies.
Lang was first drawn to country music when she attended college. Soon, she became fascinated with the life and music of Patsy Cline and ultimately determined to pursue a career as a professional singer. Lang formed a Patsy Cline tribute band called the Reclines in 1983, and they recorded a debut album, Friday Dance Promenade. A follow-up album, A Truly Western Experience, was released in 1984 and received strong reviews and which led to national attention in Canada.
Singing at country and western venues in Canada, she made several recordings that received good reviews and earned a 1985 Canadian Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist. She accepted the award wearing a wedding dress and made numerous tongue-in-cheek promises about what she would and would not do in the future, thus fulfilling the title of Most Promising. Lang has won eight Juno Awards.
In 1986, she signed a contract with an American record producer in Nashville, Tennessee, and received critical acclaim for her 1987 album, Angel with a Lariat which was produced by Dave Edmunds.
K.D. Lang won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her 1989 album, Absolute Torch and Twang. The single "Full Moon of Love" that stemmed from that album became a modest hit in the United States in the summer of 1989 and a number 1 hit on the RPM Country chart in Canada.
Her cover of Cole Porter's "So In Love" appears on the Red Hot + Blue compilation album and video from 1990, a benefit for AIDS research and relief.
Lang contributed much of the music towards Gus Van Sant's soundtrack of the film Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993), and also did a cover of "Skylark" for the 1997 film adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. She also performed "Surrender" for the closing titles of the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, having previously worked with Bond composer David Arnold on his album Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project.
Lang ranked #33 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll in 1999 and #26 on CMT' 40 Greatest Women in Country Music in 2002, one of only seven women to make both lists. The others were Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Rondstadt, and Lucinda Williams.
In 2003, she won her fourth Grammy Award, this time for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her collaboration with Tony Bennett, A Wonderful World.
On subsequent tours critical acclaim continued to come her way. In 2004, Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote: "Few singers command such perfection of pitch. Her voice, at once beautiful and unadorned and softened with a veil of smoke, invariably hits the middle of a note and remains there. She discreetly flaunted her technique, drawing out notes and shading them from sustained cries into softer, vibrato-laden murmurs. She balanced her commitment to the material with humor, projecting a twinkling merriment behind it all."
In the same year, she released Hymns of the 49th Parallel, which featured cover versions of songs by iconic Canadian singer-songwriters: Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, and Neil Young.
Also in 2004 she sang the song "Little Patch of Heaven" for the Walt Disney Feature Animation film Home on the Range.
On July 29, 2006, Lang performed her hit "Constant Craving" at the Outgames Opening Ceremonies in Montreal, Canada.
In 2007 she will be partnering with Anne Murray on a re-make of Murray's hit "A Love Song," to be featured on Murray's CD Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends. The duet was recorded in Los Angeles, and on Murray's official website there is a picture of Murray and Lang kneeling behind Murray's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Anne Murray was Lang's childhood idol.
She is due to release an album of new material, Watershed in February 2008.. It will be her first collection of original material since Invincible Summer in 2000.
In addition to her musical talents, K.D. Lang, who came out as a lesbian in a 1992 article of the LGBT-related news magazine The Advocate, has actively championed gay rights causes. She has performed and supported many causes over the years, including HIV/AIDS care and research. She is sometimes known for utilizing an androgynous physical appearance. Her animal rights vegetarian stance including a "Meat Stinks" campaign created much controversy, particularly at her hometown in the middle of Alberta's cattle ranching industry.
In the early 1990's, lang appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, needlessly shaving Cindy Crawford's face with a straight razor. The issue contained a detailed article about lang, which observed that lang had thought that she would be ostracized by the country-music industry when she came out as a lesbian; actually, Nashville yawned, and her records continued to sell. However, when she came out as a vegetarian, Nashville was appalled, and she was ostracized. (A common explanation is that the average male country star dreams of retiring to a cattle ranch but does not dream af marrying a lesbian.) |
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