Born in Toronto as the sister of comedienne Catherine O'Hara—renowned for SCTV and the Home Alone films—Mary Margaret O'Hara earned a diploma from the Ontario Art College before entering the music scene with Dollars, a soul-pop ensemble. In 1976 she aligned with Songship, which soon adopted the name Go Deo Chorus, and supplied much of its repertoire.
Although she departed the group in 1983, the demos she had cut while still a member secured a deal with Virgin Records. After prolonged postponements and disputes with the label, O’Hara finally unveiled her debut album, Miss America, in 1988; innovative guitarist Michael Brook joined her as co-producer. Despite widespread praise, the record remained her sole full-length effort for fourteen years, during which The Christmas EP stood as her only other release under her own name.
O’Hara nevertheless maintained an active schedule by lending her voice to projects by Morrissey, Gary Lucas, the Henrys, This Mortal Coil, and John & Mary. Occasional tracks of her own surfaced on the 1994 holiday collection Count Your Blessings, the 1996 Vic Chestnutt tribute Sweet Relief II: The Gravity of the Situation, and the Kurt Weill anthology September Songs; among these contributions only a single composition was written by O’Hara herself.
She also took occasional acting roles, appearing in The Hunter (1980), Candy Mountain (1987), and The Events Leading Up to My Death (1992). Her participation in the Canadian feature Apartment Hunting ultimately ended the extended recording hiatus: O’Hara composed and performed most of the film’s score, and listeners worldwide accepted the work as sufficient recompense after so protracted an absence.
