Folk singer Kate McGarrigle died yesterday at her home in Montreal, Quebec following a three-and-a-half year battle with a rare form of cancer, reports the Guardian. She was 63 years old.
While McGarrigle is likely best known today for being the mother to singer/songwriters Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, as well as the ex-wife to their father, folk singer Loudon Wainwright III, she has been performing concerts and making records alongside her sister Anna for more than 30 years.
Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s most recent release was 2005’s The McGarrigle Christmas Hour, an album of holiday songs featuring Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Beth Orton, Teddy Thompson, Emmylou Harris, and others.
According to her doctor, Robert Tabah, McGarrigle was surrounded by friends and family when she passed, including her son Rufus, who recently canceled his Australian tour to be by her side.