Buffy Sainte-Marie

Biography

Canadian-born American singer-songwriter, guitarist, political activist, and visual artist known especially for her use of music to promote awareness of issues affecting Native Americans. Orphaned as an infant in Canada when her mother, a Plains Cree, died in an auto accident, Sainte-Marie was adopted by an U.S. couple of Mi’kmaq ancestry and raised in Massachusetts & Maine. Her earliest days as a self-taught folk singer were spent shaking up the coffeehouses and consciousnesses in Greenwich Village and helping Joni Mitchell get discovered. Along with her lifelong commitment to and advocacy for Indigenous and Aboriginal people around the world, she has changed the education system from within, and maintained an unwavering passion for social justice, equality and the Earth mixed with her love of sound and songs. Her legacy is that of as an ever-curious, ever-evolving, and technologically pioneering musician, producer, composer and artist — despite her inability to read a note of music.

Awards & recognition

• ★Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences · 2022
• ★Juno Award — Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year · 2016
• ★"Spirit of Americana" Free Speech Award · 2015
• ★Polaris Music Prize · 2015
• ★honorary doctorate from the University of British Columbia · 2012