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Anne Murray , CC , ONS , LL.D (born Morna Anne Murray June 20, 1945), is a Canadian singer born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, known for her rich alto voice and her taste in choosing songs that appeal to pop, country and adult contemporary listeners alike. For many, her fame as the representative Canadian singer is rivaled only by Gordon Lightfoot. Unlike many internationally-renowned Canadian singers, she has always resided in Canada and now lives in Toronto, but spends most summers in Nova Scotia.

Murray was the first Canadian singer to reach #1 on the US charts. She is often cited as the Canadian woman who paved the way for other international success stories such as Céline Dion, Sarah McLachlan and Shania Twain. So far, her albums have sold over 54 million copies worldwide. She is the most successful crossover female artist in music history, as well as one of the most successful Christmas artists of all time with her Christmas albums selling in the millions. (In fact her album "Christmas Wishes" is one of the Top 5 selling female holiday albums in history and her "Greatest Hits" album has sold over 7 million copies worldwide). Her single "A Little Good News" has sold over 12 million copies.

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She has also been a staple on TV with 4 highly-rated US specials on CBS (over 40 million viewers each), countless Canadian specials on CBC and has appeared on Solid Gold, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Saturday Night Live, Johnny Carson, Dean Martin Summer Show, Singalong Jubilee, Dinah!, The Mike Douglas Show, Oprah, 2020, CNN, Smothers Brothers, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, Regis and Kathy Lee, The Pat Sajak Show etc...The 2005 CBC special " Anne Murray-The Music of my Life" broke ratings records for a Thursday night, with over 1 million viewers tuned in. She has also had several high-profile commercials for her albums in the US and Canada. She is the first female artist to receive a CMA award for "Album of the year", and she has both hosted the Junos in Canada as well as the CMA's in the USA.

Her music has wide appeal and she is popular with very young kids (her commercials were in heavy rotation on cartoon networks and she has a children's album), country and pop fans, the older generation, ballroom dancers and newlyweds (especially due to "Could I Have this Dance"), lovers of Christian music ("What a Wonderful World", 'Robbie's Song for Jesus") and easy listening music, and on the other side of the spectrum, even had dance singles (i.e. "Who's Leaving Who") which appealed to a strong gay following. The song was later covered by dance queen Hazell Dean. Anne's music has been pigeonholed ( wrongly a lot might say) in the Country category even though she has touched many music s. She is known as "The Lady", and is sometimes referred to as the "Singing Sweatheart of Canada". Her fame has been a boon to her home province of Nova Scotia, where the "Anne Murray Centre" is located.

Murray first came to the public eye in Canada as a cast member on the 1960's CBC music (She would later marry the show's host, Bill Langstroth.) She had a Canadian hit with the song "What About Me," the title track for her first album release. Her later live recording of the song, with a faster arrangement, would become the version heard in America.

Her first hit, "Snowbird" (1970), reached the top ten on the US Pop charts, but was a surprise country hit, as well, and a number of her subsequent singles have charted both pop and country simultaneously. During 1970s and early 1980s, her hits included "Danny's Song" (1972), "A Love Song" (1973), a remake of the Beatles' "You Won't See Me" (1974), "The Call" (1976), "You Needed Me" (1978), "I Just Fall In Love Again," "Shadows in the Moonlight" and "Broken-Hearted Me" (all 1979), a remake of The Monkees' "Daydream Believer" (1979), "Could I have this Dance" (from the movie Urban Cowboy, 1980), "Blessed Are the Believers" (1981), "A Little Good News" (1983), and "Time Don't Run Out on Me" (1985).. Her hits started to taper off into the mid '80s, and her last top 100 charting pop hit was "Now and Forever (You and Me)" from 1986 (it hit the country charts at #1-she has 11 #1 country songs in all).

Though her singles continued to make the country charts for a few more years, by the early '90s, in the wake of country's neotraditionalist movement, her smooth, polished sound fell out of favor with country radio, as well. She still remains a top concert draw, and performs regularly in the US, Canada, and occasionally in Australia. Though they yielded no chart singles, recent albums, including a 1993 album of standards, "Croonin'", a 1999 collection of quasi-inspirational songs, "What a Wonderful World", and a 2002 album of country standards, "Country Croonin'", have all made the country, pop, andor adult contemporary charts. Her 1999 album "What a Wonderful World", for example, sold over 1 million copies in the US alone. It peaked in the US charts at #4 Country, #38 Pop and #1 Contemporary Christian. Her 2001 album "Country Croonin'" sold over 500,000 copies in the US alone and was a top-ten US country album. Her music has been featured on "The Sopranos", the movie "Urban Cowboy", the Burt Reynolds film "Stick", the "Convoy" movie, on "That 70's Show" and on "Ellen" amongst others. Her span on the US Billboard charts started in 1970 and her latest entry was in 2005.

Murray has always staunchly kept her personal life as private as possible. Thus, she has been called "Garbo-esque" in certain media circles. She wed Bill Langstroth in the 70's, with Ruth Buzzi participating in the ceremony, and that union produced two children, Dawn (an aspiring singer-songwriter) and William (a computer programmer for the Government of Ontario). She was there for Dusty Springfield when Springfield's personal and professional life was in turmoil and featured Springfield as a backup vocalist on several albums and offered a spot on one of her CBS TV specials. Anne has always kept strong ties to her hometown, Springhill, Nova Scotia, located about an hour south of Moncton, N.B. and two and a half hours north of Halifax, N.S. She has a museum there which houses her memorabilia and employs local people. She has been instrumental in the construction of the local arena, and has been a spokeswoman for many charities. She donated a generous amount to the relief fund, among others. She founded a successful publishing and entertainment company called Balmur Ltd. She is an avid golfer and her first hole-in-one was covered prominently in North America. In recent years, she has faced many personal challenges: first, her departure from Capitol Records after some 25 years, the apparent suicide of the author of her first hit "Snowbird" Gene Maclellan, the death of her beloved manager Leonard T. Rambeau of cancer, her separation and subsequent divorce from her husband, her daughter's battle with anorexia, and most recently, the loss of her best friend to cancer. She has overcome all of these obstacles , and emerged in 1999 with her best selling album in 20 years "What a Wonderful World"-and has followed up with three subsequent albums.

As of 2004, has 25 albums that have either gone multi-platinum, platinum or gold in the USA alone [1]Winner of 4 Grammy Awards (including 1 in the Pop category), 3 CMA awards, and also has countless Canadian Junos, American Music Awards, etc..The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame has honored Anne as a Legacy Award recipient at their 3rd Annual Induction Gala on February 5, 2006.

She was the first Canadian female to have a #1 pop single in the United States, with "You Needed Me" in 1978. She was also the first Canadian female to earn a U.S. gold record, for "Snowbird." Murray's may have inspired use of the term "snowbird" to describe Canadians and Americans who spend their winters in warmer climates.

Typically, though, largely due to the amount of softer, country-tinged ballads in her repertoire, Murray has had more success on the Adult Contemporary and Country charts in America than on the pop charts. For example, magazine ranked "I Just Fall In Love Again" as the #1 Country hit of 1979, and it was also one of her eight #1 Adult Contemporary hits (the first was "Snowbird" and the last was "Daydream Believer"), but on the Hot 100 it stalled at #12.

Despite Murray's more successful track record in the Country and Adult Contemporary fields as compared to the pop charts, her only #1 pop hit, "You Needed Me," failed to reach pole position on either the Country (#4) or AC (#3) charts. "You Needed Me" also brought Murray one of her rare appearances on the U.K. pop chart, where it peaked at #22.

Her 1996 album "Anne Murray" was a top 10 album in Canada and spawned the AC hit "What Would it Take".

In 1998, Anne sang "When I Fall in Love" with Celine Dion on her DVD called "An Intimate Evening With Anne Murray...Live".

included a line referring to Murray as a "bitch". Reportedly, the producers of that year's Oscar telecast considered omitting the line when it was to be performed along with the other Best Song nominees, however Murray indicated she got the joke and was not offended.

Anne's music is "out of this world": Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian female astronaut, played her songs in spaceHer hometown of Springhill, NS is home to the "Anne Murray Centre" which is a non-profit museum housing her memorabilia. The town was economically depressed and was the site of a great mining disaster when Anne was young.As an undergraduate at the University of New Brunswick, she recorded a song that was issued by Radio UNB in 1965 as part of an audio yearbook.George Bush Sr. often quoted from Anne's hit "A Little Good News" and said she was his favourite singer. In addition to George Bush Sr., she has also performed for Queen Elizabeth II, Ronald Reagan and Pierre Elliott TrudeauShe has duets with Kenny Rogers, Aaron Neville, Dave Loggins, Vince Gill, Glen Campbell, Bryan Adams as well as with her brother Bruce and her daughter DawnHer hit "Snowbird" is one of the most played songs in the history of music with over 4 million spins.In 1978, she won the Grammy for best pop vocal, female, beating out Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton-John and Donna Summer. She also has 3 Country Grammies., Anne Murray was the top grossing performer for the week, having grossed $466,844.00 US , ahead of Kenny Rogers, Duran Duran, Culture Club, The Grateful Dead and The Scorpions.Like many stars, she has been the victim of a persistent stalker, a farmer from Saskatchewan who has served jail time for his obsession and harassmentAnne has recorded one French song ("Si Jamais je te Revois"), one bilingual (The French Waltz), and a Spanish version of "Broken Hearted Me"Her 4 CBS TV specials each reached an estimated 40 million US viewers, and her "Sounds of London" special introduced North American audiences to the girl group "Bananarama".Her first album What about Me" has been re-released several times and has been bootlegged countless times in the US, Australia and the UK under different titles.Songs she turned down include "Lucille" (a big hit for Kenny Rogers), "True Colors"(later a smash hit for Cyndi Lauper), "Something to talk About" ( a breakthrough hit for Bonnie Raitt) and "I Honestly love You", a hit for her Australian country-pop diva equivalent, Olivia Newton-John.