She decided to try to make a career of it in 1962, when she moved to Toronto at the age of 17. MacNeil was blessed with a full, sweet voice with a light Celtic lilt and fell in love with singing at an early age. “Rita had a lot of adversity in her life to overcome and it’s just so admirable she was able to do what she did,” Murray told Canada AM.
WHO WAS RITA MACNEIL MARRIED TO FULL
“…But then when she walked out on that stage, watch out, because she was in full control.”įellow Nova Scotian-bred singing legend Anne Murray, who appeared on a number of TV specials with MacNeil, called her “a dear sweet woman” and “a good soul” whose fans were devoted to her. “Rita was as nervous as can be before every show,” he said. But Edwards said all that would fade away when MacNeil would step out on stage.
MacNeil was known to be painfully shy and admitted in her autobiography to having self-confidence issues, largely stemming from the abuse she suffered as a child as well as her weight. “We did over 400 shows together and I mentioned on my Facebook page last night that each and every one was very special, because there was no one more real and genuine than Rita MacNeil,” Edwards said. Even after 24 albums, hundreds of shows, and dozens of awards, MacNeil always remained humble, he said. And then all of a sudden, around 11:30 last night, they called to say she had slipped away.”Īlways the reticent and perhaps unlikely star, MacNeil was one of the hardest workers Edwards says he had ever seen. “Her vital signs were good, there was no brain damage, none of that stuff. “There was a lot of hope over the last couple of days,” he said. “The operation itself went well and then shortly afterward, she went into a coma and never actually came out of it,” Edwards told CTV’s Canada AM Wednesday morning from St Petersburg, Florida. She was advised to undergo what he described as a “routine surgery,” but then developed complications during the recovery. MacNeil’s longtime promoter, Brian Edwards, says MacNeil had entered hospital a few days ago because of an infection. Rita MacNeil, the Canadian singer-songwriter from Cape Breton with the sweetly powerful voice, passed away Tuesday night following complications from surgery.
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