KWXY Presents ● A Classic Interview with Anne Murray
Anne Murray / Publicity Photo - Capitol Records / Photo Credit: Nigel Dickson 1988 / IVOX MEDIA collection
Anne Murray is a singer, television star and ranked amateur golfer with worldwide record sales of more than 55 million copies over a career spanning more than 50 years. She is a recipient of the Order of Nova Scotia and the Order of Canada, the nation’s second-highest honor. Murray was the first Canadian female artist to reach number one in the US and to earn a gold record. She has appeared on several television shows both in the US and Canada with a 2008 special on CBC scoring a huge 43 share.
She was born Morna Anne Murray on June 20, 1946 in Springhill, Nova Scotia. Her father was the town physician, and her mother was a nurse. Murray showed interest in music as a child, first studying piano and later, voice. She graduated high school in 1962 and earned a degree in physical education in 1966, teaching high school PE in Summerside, Prince Edward Island for a year.
She tried out for the CBC variety show, Singalong Jubilee, failing at first to be cast but was eventually cast at the end of her teaching career. Her first single was the Scott McKenzie composition, “What About Me” which became a hit of Canadian radio. “Snowbird,” a single on her second album in 1970, This Way Is My Way went to number one in Canada and number eight in the US, earning Murray the first gold record ever given to a Canadian solo artist.
Murray continued with a series of successful singles and covers which hit both the adult contemporary charts and country charts, culminating in 1991 with “Everyday.” She retired in 2008 but continues to work on behalf of several Canadian charities. An avid golfer with an 11 handicap, Anne Murray also became the first woman to score a hole-in-one on a par 3 hole at the Kaluhyat Golf Course in Verona, New York.
KWXY Presents a Classic Interview with Anne Murray today at 1pm on KWXY Music Radio 92.3FM ● 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com