Anna McGarrigle, CM (born December 4, 1944) is a Canadian folk music singer and songwriter who recorded and performed with her late sister Kate McGarrigle.^[1][2]

Early life

Anna McGarrigle studied at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal (1964-1968).^{[3]: 212, 229–230}

Music career

In the 1960s, Montreal natives Kate and Anna McGarrigle established themselves in Montreal's burgeoning folk scene while they attended school.^[4]: 7–8 From 1963 to 1967, they teamed up with Jack Nissenson and Peter Weldon to form the folk group Mountain City Four.^{[4]: 9–10} The sisters wrote, recorded and performed music into the twenty-first century with assorted accompanying musicians, including Chaim Tannenbaum and Joel Zifkin.^{[4]: 11, 83}

McGarrigle was also a songwriter; her song "Heart Like a Wheel" was the title track of Linda Ronstadt's 1974 album, and her song "Cool River" was recorded by Maria Muldaur.^[5]

In 2016 Anna and her older sister Jane wrote a book together, Mountain City Girls.^[6]

Personal life

McGarrigle married journalist Dane Lanken on August 25, 1977, in Hawkesbury, Ontario.^[4]: 44 She and Lanken have two children, Sylvan (b. 1977) and Lily (b. 1979).^[4]: 44

Awards

Kate and Anna's 1976 debut album Kate & Anna McGarrigle was chosen by Melody Maker as Best Record of the Year. In 1993 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.^[7]

The duo's albums Matapedia (1996) and The McGarrigle Hour (1998) won Juno Awards. In 1999 Kate and Anna received Women of Originality awards and in 2006 SOCAN Lifetime Achievement awards.^[1]

In 2017 she was presented with a Quebec Arts and Letters Award.^[8]

Discography

• Kate & Anna McGarrigle (1976)
• Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977)
• Pronto Monto (1978)
• Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse (1980)
• Love Over and Over (1982)
• Heartbeats Accelerating (1990)
• Matapédia (1996)
• The McGarrigle Hour (1998)
• La vache qui pleure (2003)
• The McGarrigle Christmas Hour (2005)
• ODDiTTiES (2010)
• Tell My Sister (2011)
• Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle (2013)
• Tant Le Monde: Live in Bremen, Germany, 2005 (2022)

References