Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album Miss America, released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a contributor to compilation albums and as a guest collaborator on other artists' albums.
Music career
Early stages
O'Hara was born in the late 1950s in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to a family of Irish Catholic descent. She is the sister of comedic actress Catherine O'Hara.[1] Her early musical tastes included Van Morrison, Dinah Washington, and her father's jazz records.[2] She was a student at the Ontario College of Art and Design in the 1970s and was involved in the music scene as a member of Toronto bands Dollars, Songship and Go Deo Chorus.[3]
On March 17, 1978, she and her brother, Marcus O'Hara, started the Martian Awareness Ball, an event that continues to this day every Saint Patrick's Day at the Horseshoe Tavern.
In 1983, O'Hara left Go Deo and was signed by Virgin Records. Her contract with Virgin continued and eventually led to the 1988 release of Miss America. O'Hara later reflected on the production experience, noting "I loved the Celtic crosses and the sheep rolling around the hills by the studio in Wales. But for Virgin to go from, 'You can do whatever you want', to 'What have you done?'—that was tough."[2][4]
In addition, she did some work as a graphic artist, including lettering for the cover of Dalbello's album whomanfoursays.
In 1987, Michael Brook saw O'Hara in performance and soon took on the job of producing O'Hara's attempts at an album. He ultimately added new vocals to and remixed material that was originally recorded by Joe Boyd in 1984.[5] At least one of the songs, "To Cry About", had been written as early as 1980.[2] According to the liner notes of a later reissue, six of the tracks were recorded in 1984, four in 1988, and one in 1983 and mixed later.[6]
O'Hara also performed at Toronto's Canwest Cabaret Festival in both 2008 and 2009. In 2008, she performed at tribute shows to Cohen, Weill and Duke Ellington, and in 2009, she participated in a musical improvisation show with Michael Snow and Aidan Closs. She also gave a rare radio interview to promote the 2009 show, appearing on CBC Radio One's Q on October 28 — and performing an impromptu duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with host Jian Ghomeshi.
On November 12, 2017, O'Hara performed a rare live show at Le Guess Who? Festival[9] in Utrecht, The Netherlands. O'Hara was invited by artist Perfume Genius who curated a program for the festival.
Work with other artists and acting
She appeared in the 1985 film The Last Polka as Gerta Lemon, one half of the Lemon Sisters singing duo alongside Catherine as Sylvie Lemon.
In December 1989 she was featured in the Razorbacks' CBC Television Christmas special It's a Razorbacks Christmas Barbeque,[10] for which she received a Gemini Award nomination for Best Performance in a Variety or Performing Arts Program or Series at the 5th Gemini Awards in 1990.[11]
O'Hara sang backup vocals for Morrissey on his song "November Spawned a Monster". She contributed to four albums by Bob Wiseman: In Her Dream, Accidentally Acquired Beliefs, Theme and Variations, and Giulietta Masina At The Oscars Crying. She also contributed to Justin Rutledge's album No Never Alone. She recorded a duet with Tindersticks called "Peanuts", which appeared on their 2010 album Falling Down A Mountain. On May 15, 2009, in Toronto, Will Oldham brought her on stage to perform a cover of John Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves".
Adey also covered "To Cry About" on his 2017 LP Do Me a Kindness.
“Something To Cry About” in the short story collection Radium Girl by Sofi Papamarko was inspired by the song “To Cry About” and built around three prompts given to the author by the singer on request.
Bria Salmena recorded a cover of "When You Know Why You're Happy" on her 2023 EP Cuntry Covers, Vol. 2.[15]
O'Hara participated in some concerts of Hal Wilner'sHarry Smith Project Revisited tour during 1999–2001. On the concert album, released in 2006, she performs the folk song "He Got Better Things for You" and on the accompanying DVD she can also be seen singing backing vocals to Gavin Friday's version of "When That Great Ship Went Down".
