Caitlin Hanford is an American and Canadian country and bluegrass singer and a music teacher. She is a member of the group

Quartette In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

and also the band The Marigolds."Quartette brings Christmas to Morinville"
''St. Albert Gazette'', Nov 25, 2015 Anna Borowiecki She is the ex-wife of musician

Chris Whiteley Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

Early life

Hanford was born in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

, October 24, 1954, the daughter of Psychologist Dana B. Hanford and Frances Mason Hanford. Her family moved to Anacortes, Washington when she was six, where she attended Fidalgo Elementary School. Hanford is rumored to be obsessed with Anacortes and the nearby town of Sedro-Woolley. In 1965 her family moved near

Poulsbo, WA Poulsbo ( ) is a city on Liberty Bay in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is the smallest of the four cities in Kitsap County. The population was 9,200 at the 2010 census and an estimated 10,927 in 2018. The area was historically ...

, and rented a beach cabin on Hood Canal. It was here that Hanford first took an interest in country music when her father brought home a Roger Miller album. A year later, her family moved to

Bainbridge Island, WA Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

, where she attended Commodore Bainbridge Middle School and Bainbridge High School, graduating in 1972. Hanford attended the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Oregon. After her sophomore year, she took a year off to join the Hoedads, a tree planting co-op based in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

. Hanford moved to Canada in 1976 and graduated from McGill University, in Montreal, Quebec in 1978."Quartette"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', article by Richard Haskell.

Career

After graduation, Hanford began teaching elementary school music. She began performing country music as well. In 1981, Hanford and Chris Whiteley released an album , ''Lovin' in Advance'', and a single through Troubadour Music. After a second album, the pair were nominated for a Juno Award in 1984. In 1989 Hanford and Whiteley founded and performed with the Adobe Brothers. In 1993, Hanford was a founding member of

, along with

Sylvia Tyson Sylvia may refer to: People *Sylvia (given name) * Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter *Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive * Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer cre ...

Colleen Peterson Colleen Susan Peterson (November 14, 1950 – October 9, 1996) was a Canadian country and folk singer, who performed both as a solo artist and as a member of the band Quartette. Career Peterson began performing in coffeehouses in Ottawa in 1966 ...

and

Cindy Church Cindy Church (born 1958) is a Canadian country and folk artist. Church released three studio albums on Stony Plain Records and was nominated for Best Country Female Vocalist at the Juno Awards in 1995 and 1996. She is also a member of the award w ...

. The group released its first album in 1994, and later produced six more albums. They toured Canada extensively, and have been nominated for several

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

s. Hanford continued to perform in the Toronto area. She joined with Suzie Vinnick and Gwen Zwick to create The Marigolds; she tours in Ontario with this group. When not performing or recording, Hanford teaches music in an elementary school in Toronto. In 2016, Hanford participated in a month-long Quartette tour in December."A Quartette Christmas with Sylvia Tyson and friends"
''Ottawa Citizen'', Lynn Saxberg, December 16, 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanford, Caitlin Canadian women country singers Canadian bluegrass musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)