Canadian music legend Anne Murray received a lifetime achievement award at the 54th annual Juno Awards in Vancouver Sunday night.
The Nova Scotia singer wore a red hockey jersey emblazoned with a glittering silver maple leaf and “Canada” across the front as she accepted the award.
In her speech, Murray noted she was pressured to move to New York or Los Angeles early in her career because most of her work was in the U.S., but she said – to a loud round of applause and cheers – she “just couldn’t do it.”
“I knew instinctively that I needed a place to go to escape when my work was done,” she told the crowd. “Canada was my safe haven, my safety blanket, my light at the end of the tunnel, and it still is.”
Fellow Nova Scotia-born singer Sarah McLachlan presented Murray with the award, calling her a “true icon, “a pioneer,” and “a trailblazer” who paved the way for Canadian women in music.
“Anne and I are both from the East Coast and I’ve always felt a kindred spirit in her,” said McLachlan. “A shared desire to pursue our dreams, but on our own terms. Her songs were the soundtrack of my childhood and I still know the words to every one.”
Born in the small town of Springhill, N.S., in 1945, Murray recalled taking the one-and-a-half-hour bus ride to Tatamagouche, N.S., for singing lessons at the age of 15.
“When I look back it seems clear that singing never felt like a choice for me. I had to do it. It was as natural as breathing,” she said.
“I was always finding ways to sing but I never ever thought of doing it for a living. But then things just started to happen, and I felt this push behind me, so I let it happen.”
Murray got her start on “Singalong Jubilee” in 1966 and released her first solo album What About Me in 1968. She released her second album a year later, which gave Murray her first big hit, “Snowbird.”
“Somehow I was also blessed with a unique-sounding voice that was very recognizable on radio and I always sang in tune, even without Auto-Tune,” she joked. “Before I knew it I was singing with the likes of Glen Campbell, Perry Como, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and many more.”
Murray has made 32 studio albums,15 compilation albums, and sold more than 55 million records worldwide over her career, which spans almost six decades.
The singer boasts four Grammy Awards and a record-setting 26 Juno Awards, including her latest honour.
“She is a living legend, a true maverick, our north star, and tonight we celebrate her with a lifetime achievement award,” said McLachlan during her introduction. “We thank Anne for everything she did to build Canada’s star system and for opening doors for so many young women who followed.”
Murray is the first artist to receive the lifetime achievement award at the Juno Awards since Pierre Juneau, the Juno Awards’ namesake, was celebrated in 1989.
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