- Album list
- Singer Intro
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress.
Lang has won both Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances; hits include 'Constant Craving' and 'Miss Chatelaine'. She has contributed songs to movie soundtracks and has collaborated with musicians such as Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett, Elton John, Anne Murray, Ann Wilson, and Jane Siberry. Lang is also known for being an animal rights, gay rights, and Tibetan human rights activist. She is a tantric practitioner of the old school of Tibetan Buddhism. She performed Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' live at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Previously, she had performed at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Lang possesses the vocal range of a mezzo-soprano.
Grammy Awards and mainstream success
Lang won the American Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her 1989 album, Absolute Torch and Twang. The single 'Full Moon Full of Love' that stemmed from that album became a modest hit in the United States in the middle of 1989 and a Number 1 hit on the RPM Country chart in Canada.
In 1989, she sang a duet, 'Sin City', with Dwight Yoakam on his album Just Lookin' for a Hit.
The 1992 album, Ingénue, a set of adult-oriented pop songs that showed comparatively little country influence, contained her most popular song, 'Constant Craving.' That song brought her multi-million sales, much critical acclaim, and the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Another top ten single from the record was 'Miss Chatelaine'. The salsa-inspired track was ironic; Chatelaine, a women's magazine, once chose Lang as its 'Woman of the Year, ' and the song's video depicted Lang in an exaggeratedly feminine manner, surrounded by bright pastel colors and a profusion of bubbles reminiscent of a performance on the Lawrence Welk show.
She received a writing credit for the Rolling Stones 1997 song, 'Anybody Seen My Baby?', whose chorus sounds strikingly similar to 'Constant Craving'. Jagger and Richards claimed to have never heard the song before and when they discovered the similarity prior to the song's release, were flummoxed as to how the songs could be so similar. Jagger then soon discovered his daughter listening to a recording of 'Constant Craving' on her stereo and realized he had heard the song before many times but only subliminally. The two gave Lang credit, along with her co-writer Ben Mink, to avoid any possible lawsuits. Afterwards, Lang said she was 'completely honoured and flattered' to receive the songwriting credit.
She contributed much of the music towards Gus Van Sant's soundtrack of the film Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and also did a cover of 'Skylark' for the 1997 film adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. She performed 'Surrender' for the closing titles of the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, having previously worked with Bond composer David Arnold on his album, Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project.
In 1996, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
In 1997, Drag, an album of cover tunes dedicated to 'smoke' (specifically cigarette smoking) was released, although the album cover and booklet photographs show Lang in a man's suit, referring to crossdressing as another possible meaning of the word 'drag'. The songs on Drag include 'Smoke Dreams, ' from the '40s, Steve Miller Band's 'The Joker, ' 'Smoke Rings, ' the theme from the cult movie Valley of the Dolls, and 8 other smoke-themed songs. In 1998, she was inducted into the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives' National Portrait Collection.
In 1999, Lang ranked No. 33 on VH-1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock & Roll, and she ranked No. 26 on CMT's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music in 2002, one of only eight women to make both lists. (The others were Linda Ronstadt, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Lucinda Williams, and Emmylou Harris).
In 2003, she won her fourth Grammy Award, this time for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for her collaboration with Tony Bennett on A Wonderful World.
On subsequent tours, critical acclaim continued to come her way. In 2004, Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote: 'Few singers command such perfection of pitch. Her voice, at once beautiful and unadorned and softened with a veil of smoke, invariably hits the middle of a note and remains there. She discreetly flaunted her technique, drawing out notes and shading them from sustained cries into softer, vibrato-laden murmurs. She balanced her commitment to the material with humor, projecting a twinkling merriment behind it all.'
In the same year, Lang released Hymns of the 49th Parallel, which featured cover versions of songs by iconic English-speaking Canadian singer-songwriters: Bruce Cockburn, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, and Neil Young. According to the Canadian Record Industry Association (CRIA), in April 2006, the album went platinum in Canada selling over 100,000 copies. In December 2007, the album reached double platinum status in Australia selling over 140,000 copies.
Also in 2004, she sang the song 'Little Patch of Heaven' for the Walt Disney Feature Animation film Home on the Range.
On July 29, 2006, Lang performed her hit 'Constant Craving' at the opening ceremonies of the Outgames held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
In 2006, she paired with singer Madeleine Peyroux on a cover of the Joni Mitchell song, 'River', for Peyroux's album, Half the Perfect World. That same year Lang was featured in Nellie McKay's second album, Pretty Little Head, singing with McKay in 'We Had it Right'. As well, Lang sang a version of The Beatles' 'Golden Slumbers' for the Happy Feet film soundtrack. She also sang a duet with Ann Wilson on the Heart singer's solo album Hope & Glory covering the Lucinda Williams song 'Jackson'.
In 2007, she teamed up with one of her childhood idols, Anne Murray, on a remake of Murray's hit, 'A Love Song', to be featured on Murray's album, Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends. The duet was recorded in Los Angeles, California.
On February 5, 2008, she released an album of new material entitled Watershed. It was her first collection of original material since the release of her 2000 album, Invincible Summer. An article in which Lang is interviewed states that 'when she isn’t working, [Lang] is mostly a homebody, living quietly with a girlfriend she refers to as 'my wife' — they are not legally married — and her two dogs.'
On November 11, 2009, she entered into a domestic partnership with Jamie Price whom she had met in 2003. After separating on September 6, 2011, Lang filed for a dissolution of the partnership in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Los Angeles, California, on December 30, 2011.
Lang's first complete greatest-hits collection was released on February 2, 2010, on the Nonesuch label as Recollection.
In 2010, she was in Nashville, working on a new album, titled Sing it Loud. The Nonesuch album was released by Lang and the Siss Boom Bang in a spring 2011 release. The band toured North America in summer 2011.
In 2012, she moved from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon.
On April 21, 2013, during the 2013 Juno Awards, Lang was formally inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. She is notable for praising Canadians and 'letting your freak flags fly' during her acceptance speech.
In 2016, Lang collaborated with Neko Case and Laura Veirs on the album project case/lang/veirs.
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