Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwrightis an American-Canadian singer-songwriter and composer. He has recorded seven albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written a classical opera and set Shakespeare sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionOpera Singer
Date of Birth22 July 1973
CityRhinebeck, NY
CountryCanada
rap thinking hands
I've been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I've been recording snippets on my BlackBerry.
way eras fans
I'm a big fan of the Pre-Raphaelites. Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, and I realised recently that my music is Pre-Raphaelite in a certain way, in that it reinvents an older era and romanticises it, puts it in this gilded frame.
beautiful thinking lines
I'm definitely a fan of juxtaposition. Using the most beautiful line to say the most horrific thing - I think one of the main things in songwriting is definitely friction between the words and the melody.
kabbalah hitting fairy-tale
I'm not born again, I'm not Kabbalah, God forbid, but I did have an experience hitting 30 that I needed to lean on something that assured me that everything is going to be okay. I had to regain a lot of my belief in fairy tales, in happy endings.
longing decrepit reverence
I'll always be a boulevardier. I have an extreme reverence and romantic longing for all that is decrepit and fatalistic.
demise way plot
I've paid the price; I definitely have a reputation that precedes me, and there is a camp that plots my demise. But then again... it's funner that way.
jesus giving-up years
I'm 33 and in my "Jesus year," and I want it all right now. I want a perfect body. I want to have a perfect love affair. I want every member of my family to be healthy and happy. And I want the world to save itself and for America to realize that it has to give up its idea of being an empire. Wait until I hit 40; then it'll all come crumbling down.
heart knack lines
In retrospect, I'm really shocked at how far I put my heart out there on the line with 'Prima Donna'. I seem to have this knack for being able to accomplish that.
looks i-smile cheeks
My cheeks explode when I smile. Thats why I have to look so nonplussed.
voice denver way
I've developed a bit of a fascination with John Denver. I always thought he was kind of tacky and somewhat revolting and had a kind of simplistic weirdness, but on second listen, he actually did have an incredible voice, and the blatant naiveté of his work is straight-edge, in a way.
challenges trying challenging-myself
I definitely try to broaden the scope of music. I don't know if it's pop or classical or what, but I'm religiously challenging myself all the time, for better or for worse.
aunt my-boyfriend care
Unless I have my aunt or my boyfriend to take care of me, I'm a little pathetic.
careers america meat
I've had my ups and downs, and I definitely have a sense - in America, especially - that once you've made your mark and gotten your Rolling Stone piece and your Grammy nomination, that they're on to the next piece of meat, and they don't necessarily like to follow the twistsand turns of an artistic career. Throwing an opera at them is something they have to notice. There's nothing subtle about it.
eye smell want
I don't want to hold you and feel so helpless I don't want to smell you and lose my senses And smile in slow motion With eyes in love.