Kate McGarrigle
With her sister Anna, she crafted intimate folk songs that turned family life and heartache into timeless, harmonized poetry.
1946–2010 (age 64)·Canadian singer-songwriter·Birthday: February 6·Baby Boomers
Biography
Kate McGarrigle grew up in the French-Canadian valleys of Quebec, where the folk traditions of her heritage seeped into her musical bones. She and her younger sister Anna began performing in the 1960s, but it was the 1970s when their duo truly found its voice, offering a stark, beautiful contrast to the era's rock excess. Their self-titled 1975 debut album was a quiet revelation, filled with wry, emotionally precise songs like "Heart Like a Wheel" and "Talk to Me of Mendocino," which were covered by artists from Linda Ronstadt to their own famous son, Rufus Wainwright. Kate's songwriting was unflinchingly personal, often drawing from her own marriages and motherhood, delivered with a voice that was warm, weathered, and utterly lacking in pretense. Though she battled illness later in life, her musical family—including Anna and children Rufus and Martha—became a celebrated dynasty, ensuring the raw, familial magic she helped create endures far beyond her.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Kate was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Kate Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Kate's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2010Died at 64
Deepwater Horizon oil spill; iPad launched
Gas: $2.79/galHome: $147,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Tik Tok" — KeshaBest Picture: The King's Speech
Key Achievements
- Released the influential 1975 folk album 'Kate and Anna McGarrigle,' which became a cult classic and critical favorite.
- Wrote "Heart Like a Wheel," a song famously recorded by Linda Ronstadt and later by many other artists.
- Co-created a lasting musical legacy that directly influenced the careers of her children, singers Rufus and Martha Wainwright.
- Performed and recorded for over three decades with her sister Anna, building a dedicated international following.
Did You Know?
She studied engineering at McGill University before pursuing music full-time.
Her former husband, Loudon Wainwright III, also a noted singer-songwriter, recorded a song about their divorce called "Rufus Is a Tit Man."
The McGarrigle Sisters' final studio album, 'Sing Me the Songs,' was a collection of lullabies.
A annual tribute concert series in New York City, "The McGarrigle Christmas Hour," was started by her family and friends.
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