Catherine McKinnon (born May 14, 1944) is a Canadian actress and folk/pop singer.

Early life and education

Born in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of ...

, McKinnon began as a child performer, making her debut radio broadcast at age eight and her television appearance at age 12. She subsequently studied music at Mount St. Vincent College in Halifax.

Career

In the 1960s she was a regular on CBC radio and television, including the Halifax based CBC television program ''

Singalong Jubilee ''Singalong Jubilee'' was a CBC Television programme produced between 1961 and 1974. It featured musical performances by local singers, playing folk, country, and gospel music, in studio on stage and on location. Anne Murray, Catherine McKinnon, K ...

''. In 1964, she popularized the song "

Farewell to Nova Scotia "Farewell to Nova Scotia" is a popular folk song from Nova Scotia, Canada. It was adapted from the Scottish lament "The Soldier's Adieu" written by Robert Tannahill. It was written sometime before or during World War I and popularized in 1964 wh ...

" when she used it as the theme song for the ''Singalong Jubilee''. McKinnon's first and biggest selling album, ''Voice of an Angel'', was a collection of folk material, but she has also recorded ballads, torch songs, and songs by notable pop songwriters such as

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her st ...

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1 ...

and

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American (Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these ar ...

. She has also been a stage actress, appearing in Canadian productions of '' Turvey'', '' The Wizard of Oz'', and ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

''.

Personal life

McKinnon married actor and comedian

Don Harron Donald Hugh Harron, (September 19, 1924 – January 17, 2015) was a Canadian comedian, actor, director, journalist, author, playwright, and composer. Harron is best remembered by American audiences as a member of the cast of the long-running co ...

in 1969; the couple divorced in 2003. Her sister, Patrician-Anne McKinnon, began her singing career on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

at age 13 and had a Canadian hit single entitled "Blue Lipstick" in 1965. "Blue Lipstick" was written especially for her by American composer

P. F. Sloan Philip Gary "Flip" Sloan (born Philip Gary Schlein; September 18, 1945 – November 15, 2015), known professionally as P. F. Sloan, was an American singer and songwriter. During the mid-1960s, he wrote, performed, and produced many ''Billboar ...

, who also wrote for

Terry Black Terry Black (February 3, 1949 – June 28, 2009) was a Canadian pop singer and teen idol, born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Career Black's debut U.S. single, " Unless You Care", was released in 1964, when Black was 15. The song was wri ...

. She was featured on both ''Voice of an Angel'' albums. Patrician-Anne's career was often interrupted owing to Hodgkins disease which caused her death at the age of 53 of lymphatic cancer on October 10, 2001 in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada.CTV webpage
Retrieved November 5, 2010

Discography

* ''This Is Catherine McKinnon'' (1964) * ''Voice of an Angel'' (1964) * ''Voice of an Angel II'' (1965) * ''The Catherine McKinnon Christmas Album'' (1966) * ''I'll Be Home For Christmas'' (1966) * ''Something Old Something New'' (1967) * ''Both Sides Now'' (1968) * ''Everybody's Talkin (1969) * ''Catherine McKinnon with the Jimmy Dale Orchestra'' (1970) * ''Catherine McKinnon'' (1980) * ''Explosive'' (1980) * ''Patrician Anne'' (1984) * ''I'll Be Home For Christmas'' (1992) * ''Images Of Christmas – Special Guest Denny Doherty'' (Attic Records Limited, 1992) * ''Songs I Love'' – (2007)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, Catherine 1944 births Living people Actresses from New Brunswick Canadian child actresses Canadian women folk singers Canadian folk singers Canadian stage actresses Mount Saint Vincent University alumni Musicians from Saint John, New Brunswick 20th-century Canadian women singers 21st-century Canadian women singers