Nova Scotia’s Stars of Song

Book excerpt: Best-selling music biographer Charlie Rhindress presents the lives and music of Nova Scotia’s six most important and successful women singers: Portia White, Anne Murray, Carroll Baker, Rita MacNeil, Holly Cole and Sarah MacLachlan. Rhindress draws on his intimate knowledge of Nova Scotia’s music and his interviews with many of the biggest figures in the Nova Scotian music scene to offer fresh insight into the lives and work of these six stars. His research included extensive conversations with the women he profiles, as well as their families, their friends and the musicians they played with and worked alongside. He offers powerful new insights into how each of them was shaped by and contributed to Nova Scotia’s unique musical heritage.