| |
| |
| |
 |
|
kd Lang was born on 2 November 1961in Consort, Alberta, Canada. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
She learned her craft by playing club dates across America for five years, before signing to Sire Records. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
There was a lot of prejudice against her in the early days. Female country singers were meant to be blonde and look cute. kd had spiky hair, wore cowboy boots and liked men's clothes. Things looked up when she duetted with Roy Orbison on a remake of the Big O's classic Cryin', featured on the soundtrack of the film Hiding Out. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
kd's 1989 album, Absolute Torch And Twang stayed in the charts for a year and she collected the best female country vocal performance trophy for the album, at the 32nd annual Grammy awards. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
In 1992, kd achieved mainstream chart success with her single, Constant Craving, taken from her album Ingenue. The video for Constant Craving received the MTV music video award for best female video. Quite a feat, considering kd was not a typical MTV star. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
kd's follow-up to Ingenue was her soundtrack to the film Even Cowgirls Get The Blues. The movie was a flop, but kd could be proud of her work on a very innovative album that rides well with the rest of her collection. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
In 1994, kd teamed up with Erasure's Andy Bell to sing the classic disco stomper No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) at the 12th annual Brit awards. Once again, kd proved that she could easily step away from her country roots and take on fresh challenges. kd fans hungry for more material, were satisfied with her 1995 album, All You Can Eat. Showing her versatility again, kd, duetted with crooner Tony Bennett and sang Teardrops with Elton John on his Duets album. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
1997 was kd's classic year. Drag, her album full of cover versions of songs with a smoking theme, which she showcased at London's Ronnie Scott's club, remains kd's most heartfelt album to date. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
During her career, kd has never been afraid to admit her sexuality. In 1998 she picked up several awards for promoting gay and lesbian culture, including a special achievement award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. kd has also been a tireless campaigner for animal rights. She's been pictured on the cover of Elle magazine cuddling a dog, and she's contributed tracks to a PETA benefit album. |
|
| |
| |
 |
|
kd has become one of country music's most political performers, revolutionising the music by combining it with pop and diverse music styles from as far away as the 1940s. kd Lang was the first country singer to break with traditional stereotype and take the music across broad new frontiers. |
|
