Rita MacNeil

Since turning 17, Rita MacNeil has worked as a folksinger and songwriter. Her first recording, the independent album Born a Woman, appeared in 1975, followed by two further self-released LPs, Part of the Mystery in 1981 and I'm Not What I Seem in 1983. Only after those projects did she join Virgin for the 1987 release Flying on Your Own. An honoree of the Order of Canada since 1992, MacNeil went on to issue Reason to Believe in 1988, Rita in 1989, Now the Bells Ring in 1989, Home I'll Be in 1990, Thinking of You in 1992, and Once upon a Christmas in 1993.