- Singer born Morna Anne Murray in 1945, from Springhill Nova Scotia Canada.
- Murray studied piano for 6 years as a child, and at 15 she was taking vocal lessons. In college in 1965, she sang 2 songs – Unchained Melody and Little Bit of Soap – on a student project recording called The Groove (the label misspelled her name as Anne Murry). She was encouraged to audition for a music variety TV show called Singalong Jubilee. Initially, she was not offered a position, but 2 years later, the show’s producer asked her to audition again, and she was cast for the show in 1967 and 1968. She appeared in 2 albums as a cast member, and the show’s music director suggested that she move to Toronto to record a solo album.
- The record label that released the albums for the TV show agreed to sign Murray, and her debut album, What About Me, was released in 1968. It was her first of 32 studio albums, along with 15 compilation alums, 1 live album and 8 Christmas albums. From these albums, she released 76 singles in her career.
- Her breakthrough came with her second album in 1969, This Way Is My Way. It contained the single Snowbird, which became her signature hit. It was her first of 23 songs that peaked at #1 on the Canadian Country chart. It also reached #1 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart (her first of 8 songs at #1), #8 on the Hot 100 chart, and #10 on the U.S. Country chart.
- Murray had many hits throughout the 70s. Her #1 songs in the U.S. during the decade were Danny’s Song (1972), A Love Song (1973 – it won a Grammy award), You Won’t See Me (1974), You Needed Me (1978 – her only #1 on the Hot 100 chart, and a Grammy winner), and 3 in 1979 that were #1 songs on both the U.S. Country and U.S Adult Contemporary Chart – I Just Fall In Love Again, Shadows In the Moonlight, and Broken Hearted Me.
- She continued to have country hits from 1980 through 1986 – 6 songs hit #1 in the U.S., while 11 hit #1 in Canada. Included is one of the most popular songs played at wedding dances – Could I Have This Dance, which was featured in the 1980 film Urban Cowboy. The song won a Grammy award, as did 1983’s A Little Good News.
- Murray had 1 album that reached #1 on a U.S. chart – What A Wonderful World, released in 1999, topped the Top Contemporary Christian chart. Her first Greatest Hits album is certified 4x platinum, and her first Christmas Album, 1981’s Christmas Wishes, is 2x platinum.
- Her final studio album, Duets: Friends & Legends, was released in 2007. It features 17 of her best known songs, re-recorded as duets with female singers. Definitely a cool record – she sings Danny’s Song with Martina McBride, Could I Have This Dance with Amy Grant, Snowbird with Sara Brightman, and many more classics with legendary women. She supported the album with a final concert tour, and her final performance was in Toronto in May 2008.
- She has won 4 Grammy awards, and holds the record for the most Juno awards, Canada’s music awards, with 25. She is the first Canadian woman to have a #1 song in the U.S., and the first to earn a Gold record, for Snowbird. She will always be considered one of the biggest stars of Adult Contemporary music, and a country music legend of the 70s and 80s. Listen to her lovely voice as she performs You Needed Me in 1979 from Johnny Cash’s TV Christmas Special that year.