Anne Murray Biography

Since her debut album in 1968, Anne Murray has spent decades successfully balancing a pop and country sound, a formula which has brought her lasting success. Born in 1945 in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Anne Murray grew up with five brothers, the only daughter of a doctor and a nurse in a rather small coal-mining town. Her early interest in music began with piano lessons, and then later, as a teenager, with voice lessons.

Her original aspirations were in the field of education; she received her degree from the University of New Brunswick and went on to teach physical education at a high school in Prince Edward Island. But an audition for the the musical variety show Singalong Jubilee, changed all that when she was cast for the show. Her debut album, What About Me, was released in the late 1960’s to critical acclaim, earning Anne Murray a record deal with Capital Records. Her debut single for Capital, “Snowbird,” hit the Top Ten in America and reached the Top 40 on the British charts.

“Cotton Jenny,” Anne Murray’s cover of the Gordon Lightfoot song, peaked at number eleven, and “Danny’s Song” became a Top Ten hit in 1973. Additional hits with “Love Song” (1974), “Walk Right Back” (1978), “You Need Me” (1978), "I Just Fall in Love Again" (1979), "Shadows in the Moonlight" (1979), and "Broken Hearted Me" (1979) kept her on the charts for most of the 1970’s.

Anne Murray entered with 1980’s with equal success, with hits like "I Just Fall in Love Again" (1979), "Shadows in the Moonlight" (1979), "Broken Hearted Me" (1979), "Could I Have This Dance" (1980), "Blessed be the Believers" (1981), "A Little Good News" (1983), "Just Another Woman in Love" (1984), "Nobody Loves Me Like You Do" (1984), and "Now and Forever (You and Me)" (1986).

Throughout her career, Anne Murray has earned twenty-four Juno Awards, three Country Music Association Awards, four Grammies, three Canadian Country Music Association Awards, and three American Music Awards. She has been inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, Juno Hall of Fame, and The Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2011, Billboard ranked Anne Murray number 10 on their list of the 50 Biggest Adult Contemporary Artists.

Anne Murray continues to perform and record. In the new millennium, she released the albums: Country Croonin’ (2002), I’ll be Seeing You (2004), and Duets: Friends & Legends (2007.) She also released the compilation albums 10 Great Songs: Inspirational Classics and Icon, in 2012 and 2013.