Kate McGarrigle with her son, Rufus Wainwright, in 2008.

It has been a terrible month already for losing musicians, since Christmas alone the media bringing the news of the sad deaths of Vic Chesnutt, Rowland S. Howard, Jay Reatard, Teddy Pendergrass and today the news that Kate McGarrigle has died at the age of 63 of cancer.

One of Canada’s best known stars, she became famous with her sister Anna in the 1970s, as Kate and Anna McGarrigle, producing their own distinctive style of folk music. Amongst those artists who covered her songs were Kirsty MacColl, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg. In addition to their own albums, Kate and Anna McGarrigle collaborated with other artists, including on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 2001 album, No More Shall We Part.

At one time she was married to fellow folk singer, Loudon Wainwright III, with whom she had two children, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, who have become stars in their own right over the last decade.

17 Seconds would like to extend its’ sympathies to her family.

Obituaries and Tributes can be found at the BBC, the Guardian, and the Times.

Remember her this way:

Kate and Anna McGarrigle -‘Walking Song.’ mp3

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -‘God Is In The House.’ mp3