Loreena McKennitt was born on February 17, 1957, in Canada. The Canadian vocalist, harpist, and pianist is known for her Celtic songs, which she interprets with her strong and emotional voice, and for composing and performing famous poems in accordance with the structure of Celtic music.
She also resurrected many forgotten anonymous folk music with a modern understanding.
The Irish-Canadian artist won the Dumaurier talent search in 1978 and represented her country at UNESCO's Paris headquarters in the same year and at the Expo in Japan in 1985.
In the 1980s she moved to Stratford (Ontario), home of Canada's famous Shakespeare Festival; she appeared as an actress, singer, and composer in various festival productions, including “The Tempest” (1982) and “The Two Gentlemen Of Verona” (1984).
She returned to the festival in the spring of 2001 as the composer of Richard Monette's production of "The Merchant Of Venice".
Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt CM OM CD (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear soprano vocals. She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.
McKennitt is a two-time winner of Juno, the Canadian music industry's annual award.
She was also given Billboard's International Achievement Award in 1997.
She has achieved gold, platinum, and multi-platinum certifications in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey.
She has composed music for various films and her songs have appeared in various films.
Albums:
-Elemental (1985)
-To Drive The Cold Winter Away (1987)
-Parallel Dreams (1989)
-The Visit (1991)
-The Mask And The Mirror (1994)
-The Book of Secrets (1997)
-Live In Paris And Toronto (Live) (1999)
-An Ancient Muse (2006)
-Nights From The Alhambra (Live) (2007)
-A Midwinter Night's Dream (2008)
-The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2010)
-Lost Souls (2018)