Entertainment

Rufus Wainwright will be at the Basque town of Bilbao today, May 9th. The Canadian musician will present his album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu at the Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall at 20:30.

Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright was born on July 22nd , 1973 in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III. His parents divorced when he was three years old, and he lived with his mother in Montreal, Canada for most of his youth. He began playing the piano at the age of six, and started touring at thirteen with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family", a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna.

His song "I''m a-Runnin", which he performed in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller at the age of fourteen, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award for Best Original Song. He was nominated for a 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year.

Wainwright came out as gay while a teenager. He became interested in opera during his adolescent years, and the genre strongly influences his music. (For instance, the song "Barcelona" features lyrics from the libretto of Giuseppe Verdi''s opera, Macbeth.) During this time, he became interested in Edith Piaf, Al Jolson, and Judy Garland.