Look up Anne in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Anne, alternatively spelled Ane or Ann is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah or Hanani, meaning 'He [= God] has favoured me', the name of the mother of the prophet Samuel.^[1] Anne is a common name in France.

It is sometimes used as a male name in the Netherlands (for example Anne de Vries). It has also been used for males in France (Anne de Montmorency) and Scotland (Lord Anne Hamilton)

Notable people named Anne[link]

• Anne Bancroft, American actress (1931-2005)
• Anne Baxter, American actress (1923-1985)
• Anne Boleyn, Queen consort and second wife of King Henry VIII of England (c. 1501/1507 - 1536)
• Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612-1672), America's first published poet
• Anne Brontë (1820-1849), British novelist and poet
• Anne de Montmorency (1493-1567), constable of France, soldier, statesman, and diplomat
• Anne de Noailles (d. 1678), first Duke of Noailles
• Anne de Vries (1904–1964), Dutch writer from Drenthe
• Lord Anne Douglas-Hamilton (1709-1748), Scottish nobleman
• Anne, Duchess of Luxembourg (1432-1462)
• Anne Francis (1930-2011), American actress
• Anne Frank (1929-1945), Jewish-German diarist
• Anne Hathaway
  • Anne Hathaway (actress) (born 1982), American actress
  • Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare) (1556-1623), wife of William Shakespeare
• Anne Hutchinson, American religious dissenter (1591-1643)
• Anne Hyde, Duchess of York
• Anne Judkins (born 1964), New Zealand race walker
• Anne Keothavong (1866-1936), British tennis player
• Anne Kornblut, author of Notes from the Cracked Ceiling
• Anne Kremer (born 1975), Luxembourgish tennis player
• Anne Meara, American actress and comedian (1929- )
• Anne Murray, Canadian singer (1945- )
• Anne of Austria, Queen consort of France
• Anne of Brittany (1488-1514), Breton ruler, Queen consort of France
• Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of King Henry VIII
• Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1665-1714), Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland; after 1707 Queen of Great Britain
• Anne Provoost, Flemish author
• Anne Rice, American author
• Anne Veski (born 1956), Estonian pop singer
• Anne Vondeling, Dutch politician
• Princess Anne, the name and title of several individuals
  • Anne, only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II
• Watanabe Anne 渡辺杏 (Anne/杏), Japanese model/actress
• Saint Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary
• Jithendra Anne, Born and brought up in Andhra

Notable people with the middle name Anne[link]

• Jacqueline Anne "Jackie" French, Australian children's author

Notable people named Ann[link]

• Ann Alexander Smith
• Ann Bancroft
• Ann Bonny
• Ann Brashares
• Ann Donahue
• Ann Druyan
• Ann Dunham
• Ann-Margret
• Ann Petry
• Ann Radcliffe
• Ann Sothern
• Ann Wilson
• Julia Ann
• Keren Ann
• LeAnn Rimes

Name used in fiction[link]

• Ann Darrow from the King Kong motion pictures (1933 and 2005)
• Anne Elliot from Jane Austen's Persuasion (novel)
• Anne Page from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor
• Princess Ann (Anya) from Roman Holiday
• Raggedy Ann
• Anne Shirley from L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables

See also[link]

• Queen Anne
• Lady Anne
• Ann Arbor, Michigan

References[link]

This page or section lists people that share the same given name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.

This biography needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010)

Anne Bancroft
Bancroft in a studio publicity shot
Born	Anna Maria Louisa Italiano (1931-09-17)September 17, 1931 The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died	June 6, 2005(2005-06-06) (aged 73) New York City, U.S.
Cause of death	Uterine cancer
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1951–2005
Spouse	Martin May (m. 1953–1957) «start: (1953)–end+1: (1958)»"Marriage: Martin May to Anne Bancroft" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Anne_Bancroft) (divorced) Mel Brooks (m. 1964–2005) «start: (1964)–end+1: (2006)»"Marriage: Mel Brooks to Anne Bancroft" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Anne_Bancroft) (her death)
Children	Max Brooks (born 1972)
Parents	Michael Italiano (1905–2001) Mildred DiNapoli (1907–2010)

Anne Bancroft (September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005) was an American actress associated with the method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg.^[1] Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft was often acknowledged for her work in film, theatre and television. She won one Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globes, two Tony Awards and two Emmy Awards, and several other awards and nominations.^[2][3]

She made her film debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and, following a string of supporting film roles during the 1950s, won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Miracle Worker (1962), receiving subsequent nominations for her roles in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), The Graduate (1967), The Turning Point (1977), and Agnes of God (1985). Bancroft's other acclaimed movies as a lead actress include Young Winston (1972), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), To Be or Not to Be (1983), and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987).

Later in her career, she made the transition back to supporting roles in theatrical films such as Point of No Return (1993), Home for the Holidays (1995), Great Expectations (1998), Antz (1998), Keeping the Faith (2000), and Heartbreakers (2001). She also starred in seven television films, the last of which was The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003) for which she received Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Bancroft died of uterine cancer, age 73, in 2005. Among her survivors was her husband of 40 years, Mel Brooks, and their son Max Brooks.

Early life[link]

Bancroft was born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano in The Bronx, New York, the daughter of Mildred (née DiNapoli), a telephone operator, and Michael Italiano, a dress pattern maker.^[4] Her parents were both children of Italian immigrants. She was brought up as a Roman Catholic.^[5] Bancroft graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx in 1948, and attended HB Studio, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Actors Studio, and the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women at the University of California, Los Angeles. After appearing in a number of live television dramas under the name Anne Marno, she was told to change her surname for her film debut in Don't Bother to Knock.

Career[link]

Bancroft was a contract player in the early days of her career just as the studio contract system was ending. She left Hollywood because of the poor quality of roles she was being offered and returned to New York.

In 1958, Bancroft made her Broadway debut as lovelorn, Bronx-talkin' Gittel Mosca opposite Henry Fonda (as the married man Gittel loves) in William Gibson's two-character play Two for the Seesaw, directed by Arthur Penn. For Gittel, she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. (Though her role was quite equal to Fonda's, he, an established film actor, was the star, and so she was eligible in the featured category).

She subsequently won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 1960, again with playwright Gibson and director Penn, when she played Annie Sullivan, the sight-impaired, heroically indefatigable Irish girl who teaches the child Helen Keller to communicate in The Miracle Worker. She took the latter role to Hollywood, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress, with Patty Duke repeating her own success as Helen alongside Bancroft in the 1962 film version of the play. Bancroft had returned to Broadway to star in Mother Courage and Her Children, so Joan Crawford accepted Bancroft's Oscar on her behalf, and later presented the award to her in New York. She is one of the very distinct few to have won an Academy Award and Tony Award for the same role. Bancroft also co-starred as a medieval nun obsessed with a priest opposite Jason Robards in the 1965 Broadway production of John Whiting's play The Devils. Produced by Alexander H. Cohen and directed by Michael Cacoyannis, it ran for a total of 63 performances.^[6]

Bancroft received a second Academy Award nomination in 1965 for her performance in The Pumpkin Eater. Her best-known role during this period was as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967), for which she received a third Academy Award nomination. In the film, she played an unhappily married woman who seduces a family friend, the much-younger recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman. In the movie, Hoffman's character later dates and falls in love with her daughter. Bancroft was ambivalent about her appearance in The Graduate; she stated in several interviews that the role overshadowed all of her other work. Despite her character becoming an archetype of the "older woman" role, Bancroft was only six years older than Dustin Hoffman.

A CBS television special, Annie: the Women in the Life of a Man (1970), won Bancroft an Emmy Award for her singing and acting.^[7] Bancroft is one of a very select few entertainers to win an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony award. She followed that success with a second television special, Annie and The Hoods (1974), which was telecast on ABC and featured her husband Mel Brooks as a guest star. She made an uncredited cameo in the film Blazing Saddles (1974), directed by Brooks. She received a fourth Academy Award nomination for her performance in The Turning Point (1977) opposite Shirley Maclaine, and a fifth nomination for her performance in Agnes of God (1985) opposite Jane Fonda.

Bancroft made her debut as a screenwriter and director in Fatso (1980), in which she starred along with Dom DeLuise. Bancroft was also the original choice to play Joan Crawford in the film Mommie Dearest (1981), but backed out at the eleventh hour, and was replaced by Faye Dunaway. She was also a front-runner for the role of Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (1983), but declined in order to act in the remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983), with her husband Mel Brooks.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, Bancroft took supporting roles in a number of films in which she co-starred with major film stars, including Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) with Nicolas Cage; Love Potion No. 9 (1992) with Sandra Bullock; Malice (1993) with Nicole Kidman; Point of No Return (1993) with Bridget Fonda; Home for the Holidays (1995) with Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Jodie Foster; How to Make an American Quilt (1995) with Winona Ryder, G.I. Jane (1997) with Demi Moore; Great Expectations (1998) with Gwyneth Paltrow; Keeping the Faith (2000) with Ben Stiller; and Heartbreakers (2001) with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sigourney Weaver and Gene Hackman. She also lent her voice to the animated film Antz (1998) which also featured performances from Jennifer Lopez, Sharon Stone, and Woody Allen.

Bancroft also starred in several television movies and miniseries, receiving six Emmy Award nominations (winning twice), eight Golden Globe nominations (winning twice), and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her final appearance was as herself in a 2004 episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. Her last project was the animated feature Delgo, released posthumously in 2008.

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6368 Hollywood Boulevard, for her work in television.^[8] At the time of her star's installation (1960),^[9] she had recently appeared in several TV series.

Marriage and family[link]

Bancroft with Mel Brooks at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

Bancroft was married to Martin May from July 1, 1953, to February 13, 1957. They had no children.

In 1961, Bancroft met Mel Brooks at a rehearsal for the Perry Como variety show. Bancroft and Brooks married on August 5, 1964, at the Manhattan Marriage Bureau near New York City Hall and were together until her death. In 1972 Bancroft gave birth to her only child, Maximillian Brooks.

They were seen three times on the screen together: once dancing a tango in Brooks's Silent Movie (1976); in his remake of To Be or Not to Be (1983); and in the episode entitled "Opening Night" (2004) of the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. They were also in Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), but never appeared together. Brooks produced the film The Elephant Man (1980), in which Bancroft acted. He also was executive-producer for the film 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) in which she starred. Both Brooks and Bancroft appeared in season six of The Simpsons. According to the DVD commentary, when Bancroft came to record her lines for the episode "Fear of Flying", the Simpsons writers asked if Brooks had come with her (which he had); she joked, "I can't get rid of him!" In 2010, Brooks credited Bancroft as being the guiding force behind his involvement in developing The Producers and Young Frankenstein for the musical theatre, citing an early meeting as "From that day, until her death on June 5, 2005, we were glued together."^[10]

In April 2005, two months before her death, Bancroft became a grandmother when her daughter-in-law Michelle gave birth to a boy, Henry Michael Brooks.

Death[link]

Anne Bancroft died, age 73, of uterine cancer on June 6, 2005, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.^[11] Her death surprised many, even some of her friends. She was intensely private and had not released details of her illness.^{[citation needed]} She is interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, near her parents, Mildred (who died in April 2010, five years after her daughter) and Michael Italiano. A white marble monument with a weeping angel adorns her grave. Her last film, Delgo, was dedicated to her memory.

Work[link]

Theatre[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anne Bancroft

• Anne Bancroft at AllRovi
• Anne Bancroft at Find a Grave
• Anne Bancroft at the Internet Broadway Database
• Anne Bancroft at the Internet Movie Database
• Anne Bancroft at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Anne Bancroft at the TCM Movie Database
• Anne Bancroft at Yahoo! Movies

Anne Murray
Murray in the 1970s
Background information
Birth name	Morna Anne Murray
Born	(1945-06-20) June 20, 1945 (age 67) Springhill, Nova Scotia, Canada
Origin	University of New Brunswick
Genres	Country, pop, adult contemporary
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1968 – present
Labels	Arc, Capitol, Captiol Nashville Liberty, SBK, EMI Canada, Straight Way, Manhattan
Website	annemurray.com

Morna Anne Murray CC ONS (born June 20, 1945) is a multiple award-winning Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary music whose albums have sold over 54 million copies.^[1][2][3]

Murray was the first Canadian female solo singer to reach #1 on the U.S. charts, and also the first to earn a Gold record for one of her signature songs, "Snowbird" (1970).^[4] She is often cited as the woman who paved the way for other Canadian international success stories such as Céline Dion, Sarah McLachlan and Shania Twain.^[5][6] She is also the first woman and the first Canadian to win "Album of the Year" at the Country Music Association Awards for her 1984 album A Little Good News.

Murray has received four Grammy Awards, 24 Juno Awards (she holds the record for the most Junos awarded to an artist), three American Music Awards, three Country Music Association Awards and three Canadian Country Music Association Awards. She has been inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, the Juno Hall of Fame, The Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. She is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame Walkway of Stars in Nashville, and has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles and on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto.^[7]

In 2011, Billboard ranked her number 10 on their list of the 50 Biggest AC Artists Ever.^[8]

Early life[link]

Morna Anne Murray was born June 20, 1945, in the coal-mining town of Springhill, Nova Scotia. Her father, James Carson Murray, was the town doctor and her mother, Marion Margaret Murray, was a registered nurse who focused her life on raising her family and community charity work. Murray was raised as the only girl in a family of five brothers - David, Daniel, Harold, Stewart and Bruce.^[9]

After expressing an early interest in music, she studied piano for six years; by age fifteen, she began taking voice lessons. Every Saturday morning, she took a bus ride from Springhill to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, for her singing lesson with her teacher, Karen Mills. One of Murray's earliest performances was of the religious song "Ave Maria" at her high school graduation in 1962.^[10]

Following high school, Murray attended Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax for one year. She later studied Physical Education at University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. After receiving her degree in 1966,^[11] Murray taught physical education at a high school in Summerside, Prince Edward Island for one year.

Murray married Bill Langstroth on June 20, 1975, and gave birth to two children: William, in 1976, and the better-known of her children, Dawn Langstroth, in 1979, a singer/songwriter and artist who has recorded with her mother a number of times, including the duet "Let There Be Love" in 1999 for Murray's What A Wonderful World album. Anne and Dawn were featured in a mother-daughter duet of "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" on Murray's hit 2008 U.S. CD (released in late 2007 in Canada), Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends, Murray's highest-charting release in nine years.

Early career[link]

In 1965 Anne Murray appeared on the University of New Brunswick student project record "The Groove" (500 pressed). She sang two songs on the record - "Unchained Melody" and "Little Bit of Soap". On the label her name was misspelled "Anne Murry".^[12]

While at university, Murray was encouraged to audition for the 1960s CBC musical variety television show Singalong Jubilee, but Murray was not offered a singing position. Two years later she received a call from Singalong Jubilee co-host and associate producer, Bill Langstroth, and was asked to return for a second audition. Following that second audition, Murray was cast for the show.

After a summer of singing in local venues across the Maritimes, Murray began teaching Physical Education at a high school in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. After one year of teaching, she was offered a spot on a television show Let's Go, and returned to Singalong Jubilee.

As a regular member of the "Singalong Jubilee" cast, Murray appeared on the Singalong Jubilee Vol. III soundtrack and Our Family Album - The Singalong Jubilee Cast records released by Arc Records. The show's musical director, Brian Ahern, advised Murray that she should move to Toronto and record a solo album. Murray's first album, What About Me, was produced by Ahern in Toronto and released in 1968 on the Arc label.

Success[link]

Murray's debut album was on the Canadian Arc label, titled What About Me (Arc AS 782). The lead single was the cut of the same name, was written by Scott McKenzie, and was a sizable Canadian radio hit. The project was produced by Brian Ahern, and covered songs by Joni Mitchell, Ken Tobias and John Denver. After a year-long stint on Arc, Murray switched to Capitol Records in 1969 to record her second album, This Way Is My Way, which was released in the fall of the same year. This album featured the single that launched her successful career, "Snowbird", which became a #1 hit in Canada. "Snowbird" became a surprise hit on the U.S. charts as well, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970. It was also the first of eight #1 Adult Contemporary hits for Murray. The song led to Murray being awarded the first Gold record ever given to a Canadian artist in the United States (RIAA certified Gold on November 16, 1970).^[4] As one of the most successful female artists at that time, Murray became in demand for several television appearances in Canada and the United States, eventually becoming a regular on the hit U.S. TV series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.

After the success of "Snowbird", Murray had a number of subsequent singles that charted both pop and country simultaneously. During the 1970s and early 1980s, her hits included Kenny Loggins' "Danny's Song" (1972) (peaked at #7 on the Hot 100) and "A Love Song" (1973); "He Thinks I Still Care" and her Top 10 cover of The Beatles' "You Won't See Me" (1974); her all-time career-peaking #1 Hot 100 hit "You Needed Me" (1978) — oddly, though, the biggest pop and commercially successful hit of her career (and, she claims, her personal favourite song in her entire repertoire) stalled out at #4 on Billboard's country singles chart and #3 on Billboard's U.S. Adult Contemporary chart; "I Just Fall in Love Again", "Shadows in the Moonlight", and "Broken Hearted Me" (all from 1979); her revival of The Monkees' 1967 #1 hit "Daydream Believer" and "Could I Have This Dance" from the Urban Cowboy motion picture soundtrack, both from 1980; "Blessed Are the Believers" (1981); "Another Sleepless Night" (1982); "A Little Good News" (1983); 1984's "Just Another Woman in Love" and "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" (a duet with Dave Loggins of 1974's "Please Come to Boston" fame and cousin of Murray's frequent songwriter Kenny); and "Time, Don't Run Out On Me" from 1985.

She performed "O Canada" at the first American League baseball game played in Canada on April 7, 1977, when the Toronto Blue Jays played the Chicago White Sox at Exhibition Stadium.^[13] Murray reprised the Canadian national anthem prior to Game 3 of the 1992 World Series at SkyDome.^[14]

Murray was a celebrity corporate spokeswoman for The Bay, and she also did commercials and sang the company jingle ("You Can Count on the Commerce") for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).^[15]

Murray's last Hot 100 charting pop hit was "Now and Forever (You and Me)" from 1986; it also was her last #1 on both American and Canadian country charts. Her last charting single in the U.S. was 1991's "Everyday," which appeared in Billboard's Country Singles chart, and her last charting single in Canada was 2000's "What a Wonderful World".

Murray was ranked #24 in Country Music Television's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music in 2002.^[16]

Murray is a Companion of the Order of Canada,^[17] the second highest honour that can be awarded to a Canadian civilian. She was a recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia in its inaugural year.^[18]

In 1996, Murray signed on with a new manager, Bruce Allen, who also has managed careers for Bryan Adams, Michael Bublé, Martina McBride and Jann Arden. She recorded her first live album in 1997 and in 1999, she released What a Wonderful World, a Platinum selling inspirational album,^[4] which went to Billboard #1 Contemporary Christian, # 4 Country and #38 on the pop charts. She released Country Croonin' in 2002, the follow-up to her successful 1993 album, Croonin'. In 2004, she released I'll Be Seeing You in Canada only, which features a collection of songs from the early 20th century through to the mid-1940s. The American version, titled All of Me, features a bonus disc containing many of her hit singles, followed in 2005.

In 2006 Murray received a tremendous honour when the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame chose her and Leonard Cohen as recipients of the Legacy Award for their extraordinary contributions to and support of the Canadian songwriting industry. Murray was recognized for her unfailing support of Canada’s songwriters, through her performances and her recordings.^[19]

On June 29, 2007, Canada Post issued the limited edition Anne Murray Stamp. She was recognized along with three other iconic Canadian recording artists: Paul Anka, Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell.^[20]

Murray's final studio album Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends, was released in November 2007 in Canada and January 2008 in the U.S. The album comprises 17 tracks that include many of Murray's biggest hits over her four-decade career, re-recorded as duets with other established, rising, and – in one case – deceased female singers. These artists included Canadian superstars Céline Dion and Shania Twain along with other fellow Canadians k.d. lang, Nelly Furtado, Jann Arden, a CD-closing French-language duet with Québec's Isabelle Boulay, and Murray's daughter, Dawn Langstroth; Australia's decades-long veteran Olivia Newton-John; Nashville's Emmylou Harris, Martina McBride, Shelby Lynne, and pop/country/contemporary Christian crossover artist Amy Grant; songwriting and recording legend Carole King; influential folk-rock duo Indigo Girls; Irish sextet Celtic Woman; Britain's late blue-eyed soul legend and close personal friend of Murray's, Dusty Springfield; and a duet of her landmark, career-establishing #1 hit from 1970, "Snowbird," with world's biggest selling soprano, Sarah Brightman.

Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends was recorded in four cities - Toronto, Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. According to Billboard magazine, the album reached #2 on the Canadian pop album charts and was certified Double Platinum in Canada after merely two months, representing sales of over 200,000 units. Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends was the second-highest debuting CD on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart for the week ending February 2, 2008. It entered the chart at #42, making it her highest-charting U.S. CD release since 1999's What a Wonderful World, which peaked at #38 on the Top 200 and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[4] Also for the week ending February 2, 2008, the CD debuted at #8 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and at #3 on its Top Internet Albums chart.^[21] Murray was nominated for the 2008 Juno Award for Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year.^[22][23]

Murray's album What a Wonderful World was re-released in July 2008 in North America as a 14-song package. A new Christmas album, titled Anne Murray's Christmas Album with bonus DVD was released in October 2008, and Sony BMG Music released an Elvis Presley Christmas album, titled Elvis Presley Christmas Duets, on October 14, 2008 featuring a virtual duet of "Silver Bells" with Anne Murray.^[24][10]

According to Linda Thompson (Elvis Presley's girlfriend from 1972–1976), Presley was a fan of Murray.^[25][26]

On October 10, 2007, Murray announced that she would embark on her final major tour. She toured in February and March 2008 in the U.S., followed by the "Coast-to-Coast – One Last Time" tour in April and May in Canada.^[27][28] Anne Murray's final public concert was held at the Sony Centre in Toronto on May 23, 2008.^[29][30]

On August 25, 2008 Murray appeared on the popular TV program Canadian Idol as a mentor.^[31]

On February 12, 2010, Murray was one of the eight Canadians who carried the Olympic flag during the opening ceremonies of the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.^[32]

TV work[link]

Murray has had five highly-rated US specials on CBS (over 40 million viewers each), countless Canadian specials on CBC (such as Anne Murray in Nova Scotia, Intimate Evening with Anne Murray, Anne Murray RSVP, A Special Anne Murray Christmas, Legends & Friends, Greatest Hits II, What A Wonderful World, Ladies Night Show, Anne Murray in Walt Disney World and Anne Murray's Classic Christmas) and has appeared on Solid Gold, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Dean Martin Summer Show, Singalong Jubilee, Dinah!, The Today Show, Dolly!, The Mike Douglas Show, Christmas in Washington, Boston Pops, The Helen Reddy Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 20/20, CNN, Perry Como's Christmas in New Mexico, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, Night of a 100 Stars, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, The Pat Sajak Show, Royal Canadian Air Farce and Good Morning America. Her 2005 CBC special Anne Murray: The Music of My Life broke ratings records for a Thursday night, with more than 7 million Canadian viewers tuned in. The guests on her TV specials have included Julio Iglesias, Patti LaBelle, Céline Dion, Bryan Adams, Dusty Springfield, Bananarama, Dionne Warwick, John Denver, k.d. lang, Kris Kristofferson, Barenaked Ladies, Alan Thicke, Roch Voisine, Glen Campbell, Valerie Harper, Ruth Buzzi, Rita MacNeil, Andrea Martin, The Rankin Family, Diana Krall, Dawn Langstroth, Jann Arden, and Miss Piggy. The record for the highest-rated variety special in Canadian television history is Anne Murray's Family Christmas, which garnered a 43 per cent share on CBC with 4.2 million viewers.^[33]

Autobiography[link]

In January, 2009, Alfred A. Knopf Canada announced that Murray, in collaboration with author Michael Posner, would be writing a memoir of her private life and 40-year career in show business. The autobiography, titled All of Me, was released on October 27, 2009.^[34] The autobiography is a self-portrait of Canada’s first great female recording artist. All of Me documents Murray's life, from her childhood in the tragedy-plagued small coal-mining town of Springhill, Nova Scotia, to her success on the world stage. The book remains on Canada's non-fiction best sellers list.

Following the release of her autobiography, All of Me, Murray embarked on a 15-city book signing tour, starting in Nashville on October 27, 2009 and ending in Ottawa on November 24, 2009. The tour also included a special In Conversation interview with Michael Posner at the International Festival of Authors in Toronto on October 30, 2009.^[35]

Personal life[link]

In recent years, Murray has faced many personal challenges: her departure from Capitol Records after more than a quarter-century; the apparent suicide of Gene MacLellan, the composer of her first hit single, "Snowbird", which hit #1 in both Canada and the U.S. and virtually established her international singing career overnight; the death of her beloved manager and close friend, Leonard T. Rambeau, from colon cancer; the separation and subsequent divorce from her husband, Bill; her daughter Dawn's battle with anorexia (Dawn and Anne reluctantly did the US talk-show circuit to raise awareness of the deadly affliction);^[36] and most recently, the loss of her best friend to cancer (she recorded her 2005 album All of Me as a tribute to her).^[10]

She emerged from those personal adversities in 1999 with her best-selling album in 20 years, What a Wonderful World, which was certified Platinum, and her 2002 CD Country Croonin’ was certified Gold by the RIAA.^[4] Murray's 2007/2008 Anne Murray Duets: Legends & Friends CD was the second-highest debuting album on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart (U.S.) for the week ending February 2, 2008, and was Murray's highest-charting album in the U.S. since What a Wonderful World was released in 1999. The CD also debuted on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart at #8 and Top Internet Albums chart at #3 for the same week.

The Anne Murray Centre in Springhill, Nova Scotia

Murray has always kept strong ties with her hometown, Springhill, Nova Scotia, located about an hour south of Moncton, New Brunswick, and two hours north of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Anne Murray Centre, located in Springhill, houses a vast collection of memorabilia from both her personal life and professional career in a series of award winning, three-dimensional displays. The Anne Murray Centre, which opened on July 28, 1989, is a registered Canadian charity. As a non-profit association, all the revenue generated from its operation is used to provide employment for local people and for its ongoing maintenance. The Anne Murray Centre has successfully fostered tourism in the area and has promoted awareness of the music of Nova Scotia and Canada.^[37]

Anne Murray was also instrumental in the construction of the Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Community Centre in Springhill, Nova Scotia. Murray served as the honorary chair of the fundraising campaign to replace the town arena that collapsed after a peewee hockey game in 2002. Named for her parents, the Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Community Centre sports an NHL-size ice sheet with seating for 800 people, a walking track, multi-purpose room, community room with seating for up to 300, and a gym. The Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Community Centre has become an integral part of the Springhill community since opening on September 15, 2004.^[38]

Murray's personal success combined with her visible love and support for Springhill was featured in the article, “Women of Success – Impact on The Economy of Their Hometowns,” in Progressive Choices – Canadian Women In Business magazine (Summer/Fall 2004 edition).

When a devastating tsunami brought tragedy on December 26, 2004, Anne Murray joined other Canadian music stars in the Canada for Asia Telethon, a three-hour, tsunami relief concert broadcast on CBC Television (January 13, 2005) to support CARE Canada’s efforts. Bryan Adams and Murray closed the show with a duet, "What Would It Take".^[39]

Murray is also passionate about environmental affairs, and she has been a public supporter of renowned Canadian environmentalist and geneticist Dr. David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge.^[40]

Anne Murray has also been involved in a variety of charitable organizations. In addition to being the Honorary National Chairperson of the Canadian Save The Children Fund,^[41] she has served as a spokeswoman for many charities throughout her career - most recently Colon Cancer Canada. On May 20, 2009, Colon Cancer Canada launched the inaugural Anne Murray Charity Golf Classic. Over $150,000 was raised through the event.^[42]

Murray's father, Dr. Carson Murray, died in 1980 at the age of 72 from complications from leukemia. Her mother, the former Marion Margaret Burke, died April 10, 2006, at the age of 92 after suffering a series of strokes during heart surgery.^[10]

A longtime golf enthusiast, Murray made history in October 2003 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York, by becoming the first woman to score a hole-in-one on the 108-yard, par 3, 17th hole at the Kaluhyat Golf Club.^[43]

On May 11, 2007, Golf For Women magazine named Murray the world's best female celebrity golfer, noting her 11 handicap.^[44]

Discography[link]

Since 1968, Murray has had 32 studio albums, 15 compilation albums, 15 of which have either gone multi-platinum, platinum or gold in the U.S. alone.

Awards and honors[link]

Anne Murray is the winner of four Grammy Awards (including one in the pop category), three CMA Awards, and has also won several Juno Awards, American Music Awards, and numerous other awards.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Millard, Bob (1998). "Anne Murray". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 361–2.
• Grills, Barry (1996) Snowbird: The Story of Anne Murray. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press.
• Livingstone, David (1981) Anne Murray: The Story So Far. Scarborough: Prentice Hall Canada, Inc.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anne Murray

• Annemurray.com - Anne Murray's official website
• Annemurraycentre.com - Anne Murray Centre's official website
• Order of Canada citation
• "Queen Anne: Keeping the Class in Classic"