Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright is, to my ear, one of the most genuinely original voices in contemporary music. Born into a famous musical family and trained at McGill, he fuses operatic grandeur with pop intimacy in a way almost no one else attempts, let alone pulls off. He writes actual operas, sets Shakespeare to music, and still delivers aching, baroque pop songs that wreck me a little every time. I deeply respect how openly he has lived as a gay artist and how fiercely he protects his own aesthetic rather than chasing trends. He may never be a chart juggernaut, and that feels exactly right for an artist this uncompromising.

Name (English)

Rufus Wainwright

Name (Japanese)

ルーファス・ウェインライト

Reading

るーふぁす・うぇいんらいと

Born

July 22, 1973 (age 53)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Ox

Origin

Rhinebeck, New York, United States

Occupation

composer / singer-songwriter / pianist / singer / musician

University

McGill University

Awards & achievements

• 2008 GLAAD Stephen F. Kolzak Award

• Official sitehttps://www.rufuswainwright.com/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/rufuswainwright/
• Xhttps://x.com/rufuswainwright
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus%20Wainwright
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q192402

Tags

• New York
• composer
• singer-songwriter
• pianist

Last updated

2026-06-17

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.