Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt , born February 17, 1957 in Morden, Manitoba, is a singer-songwriter, singer, harpist, accordionist and Canadian pianist. The quality of his compositions and his interpretations gave him an international reputation. She finds the inspiration of her music in the history of Celtic peoples.
Loreena McKennitt was born in Morden near Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada), from an Irish and Scottish family. His father is a cattle farmer and his mother is a nurse. She learns to play the piano and follows singing lessons. It was during the 1970s that she discovered "Celtic music" and in particular the first productions of Alan Stivell. It is therefore through music that she will be interested in Celtic civilization. In 1974, she performed at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
In 1981, she moved to Stratford, Ontario where she worked as a composer and performer at the city's festival for several years in a row (see article Stratford Festival of Canada). She has performed at a number of folk festivals (Vancouver, Winnipeg) and tour concerts across Canada. At the same time she composes the music of two feature films and two documentaries.
In 1985, she created Quinlan Road, a production company to manage his career and produce his records. That same year, she released her first album Elemental based on traditional melodies of Celtic origin, where her voice and the sound of the harp are combined; the album sells for 100,000 copies. His second album, To Drive the Cold Winter Away, is inspired by the songs of winter. Parallel Dreams in 1989 is a mixture of covers and personal compositions, it is a commercial success, which confirms the growing reputation of the artist. Then in 1991 she published The Visit, her fourth album, which she sells 2 million albums. She played at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and then toured with Mike Oldfield, where she premiered Tubular Bells II. The song Bonnie Portmore, used in the movie Highlander 3, allows him to be known worldwide to the general public.