Buffy Sainte-Marie
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox musical artist
Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverley Jean Santamaria;<ref name="cbc2023"/> February 20, 1941<ref name="Plainshumanities">Template:Cite web</ref>) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist.<ref>More than 26.5 million copies sold worldwide as per Buffy Saint-Marie biography/profile Template:Webarchive</ref>
Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism, and her work has often focused on issues facing Indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada. She has won recognition, awards, and honors for her music as well as her work in education and social activism. In 1983, her co-written song "Up Where We Belong", for the film An Officer and a Gentleman, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 55th Academy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name = "OscarBSM">Template:Cite web</ref> The song also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song that same year.<ref name="Sheward-1997" />
Since the early 1960s, Sainte-Marie claimed Indigenous Canadian ancestry, but a 2023 investigation by CBC News concluded she was born in the United States and is of Italian and English descent.<ref name="cbc2023">Template:Cite news</ref> Some Indigenous musicians and organizations called for awards she won while falsely claiming an Indigenous identity to be rescinded.<ref name="musicians">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Colesawards"/><ref name="Francisaptn"/><ref name="CP24 2023 h358"/><ref name="sfchron2023"/> In 2025, many of her awards and honors were revoked, including her membership in the Order of Canada, her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, her Juno Awards, and her Polaris Music Prizes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Early life and education
Sainte-Marie was born at the New England Sanitarium and Hospital in Stoneham, Massachusetts, to parents Albert Santamaria and Winifred Irene Santamaria, Template:Nee.Template:R The Santamarias were an American couple from Wakefield, Massachusetts. Her father's parents were born in Italy while her mother was of English ancestry.Template:R Her family changed their surname from Santamaria to the more French-sounding "Sainte-Marie" due to anti-Italian sentiment following the Second World War.Template:R
Sainte-Marie taught herself to play piano and guitar in her childhood and teen years.<ref name="moonshot">Template:Cite web</ref> Sainte-Marie attended Wakefield High School. Then she attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst,Template:R earning degrees in teaching and Asian philosophy,<ref name="moonshot"/>Template:Bettersourceneeded where she says she graduated as one of the top ten students of her class.<ref name=teos>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="profiles">45 Profiles in Modern Music Template:Webarchive by E. Churchill and Linda Churchill, pgs. 110–2</ref>
Career
1960–1979: Rise to prominence
During the early 60s as she attended the University of Massachusetts some of her songs, "Ananias", the Indian lament "Now That the Buffalo's Gone", and "Mayoo Sto Hoon" (a Hindi Bollywood song "Mayus To Hoon Waade Se Tere" originally sung by the Indian singer Mohammed Rafi from the 1960 movie Barsaat Ki Raat) were already in her repertoire.<ref name="moonshot"/> In her early twenties she toured alone, developing her craft and performing in various concert halls, folk music festivals, and First Nations communities across the United States, Canada, and abroad. She spent a considerable amount of time in the coffeehouses of downtown Toronto's old Yorkville district, and New York City's Greenwich Village as part of the early to mid-1960s folk scene, often alongside other emerging artists such as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell, the latter of whom she introduced to Elliot Roberts, who became her manager.<ref name="DirectorsCut"/>
In 1963, while she was suffering from a throat infection, Sainte-Marie became addicted to codeine. Recovering from that experience became the basis for her song "Cod'ine",<ref name="profiles"/> which was later recorded by Donovan, Janis Joplin, the Charlatans, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Man, the Litter, the Leaves, Jimmy Gilmer, the Fireballs, Gram Parsons,<ref>On Another Side of This Life: The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons 1965–1966</ref> Charles Brutus McClay,<ref>Charles Brutus McClay – "Bottled in France", released 1970 by CBS France, cat.nr.64478</ref> the Barracudas (spelled "Codeine"),<ref>The Barracudas – "Drop Out with The Barracudas", released 1981 by Zonophone, cat.nr.ZONO103</ref> the Golden Horde,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nicole Atkins and Courtney Love.
Also in 1963, Sainte-Marie witnessed wounded soldiers returning from the Vietnam War at a time when the U.S. government was denying involvement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This inspired the composition of her widely acclaimed anti-war protest song "Universal Soldier",<ref>Folk and Blues: The Premier Encyclopedia of American Roots MusicTemplate:Dead link by Irwin Stambler, Lyndon Stambler, pp. 528–530</ref> which was released on her debut album It's My Way! on Vanguard Records in 1964, and later became a hit for both Donovan and Glen Campbell.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Her 1965 album Many a Mile included her most successful song "Until It's Time for You to Go", which has been recorded by many artists, including Neil Diamond, Roberta Flack, Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Nancy Sinatra, Glen Campbell, Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet, Andy Williams and many others.<ref>SecondHandSongs, Until It's Time for You to Go. https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/375</ref>
In a 1965 Billboard issue, folk-music disc jockeys voted Sainte-Marie "Favorite New Female Vocalist" in that genre.<ref name="Billboard dj poll">Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Refn Some of her songs addressing the mistreatment of Native Americans, such as "Now That the Buffalo's Gone" (1964) and "My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying" (1964, included on her 1966 album), created controversy at the time.<ref name="encyc-great-plains">Encyclopedia of the Great Plains entry by Paula Conlon, University of Oklahoma, edited by David J. Wishart</ref>
In 1967, she released Fire & Fleet & Candlelight, which contained her interpretation of the traditional Yorkshire dialect song "Lyke Wake Dirge", as well as a French language version of "Until It's Time For You to Go".
In 1968 she released her song "Take My Hand for a While" which was also later recorded by Glen Campbell and at least 13 other artists.<ref>Take My Hand for a While. https://secondhandsongs.com/work/13720/all Template:Webarchive</ref>
Sainte-Marie's other well-known songs include "Mister Can't You See" (a Top 40 U.S. hit in 1972); "He's an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo"; and the theme song of the movie Soldier Blue. She appeared on Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest with Pete Seeger in 1965 and several Canadian television productions from the 1960s to the 1990s,<ref name="DirectorsCut"/> and other TV shows such as American Bandstand, Soul Train, The Johnny Cash Show, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Sainte-Marie sang the opening song, "The Circle Game" (written by Joni Mitchell),<ref name="DirectorsCut"/> in Stuart Hagmann's film The Strawberry Statement (1970);<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and in the TV show Then Came Bronson episode "Mating Dance for Tender Grass" (1970), she sang and portrayed Tender Grass, the episode's titular character.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1970 she recorded the album Illuminations,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> an early quadraphonic vocal album on which she used a Buchla synthesizer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sainte-Marie appeared in "The Heritage" episode of The Virginian which first aired on October 30, 1968, in which she played a Shoshone woman who had been sent to be educated at school.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sesame Street
Sainte-Marie was hired in 1975 to present Native American programming for children for the first time on Sesame Street.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sainte-Marie wanted to teach the show's young viewers that "Indians still exist".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She regularly appeared on Sesame Street over a five-year period from 1976 to 1981. Sainte-Marie breastfed her first son, Dakota "Cody" Starblanket Wolfchild, during a 1977 episode. Sainte-Marie has suggested that this is the first representation of breastfeeding ever aired on television.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sesame Street filmed several shows from her home in Hawaii in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1979, Spirit of the Wind, featuring Sainte-Marie's original musical score, including the song "Spirit of the Wind", was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.<ref name="Spirit of the Wind">Template:Cite news</ref> The film is a docudrama about George Attla, a "World Champion dog sledder". The American Indian Film Festival, which exhibited the film in 1980, recognizes accurate historical and contemporary portrayals of Native Americans.<ref name="Spirit of the Wind" />
1980–1999: Established career
Sainte-Marie began using Apple II and Macintosh computers as early as 1981 to record her music and later some of her visual art.<ref name="moonshot" /><ref>Names under the sun: Buffy Sainte-Marie – multi-awarded native American singer makes a comeback, Los Angeles Business Journal, May 1992 by Michael Logan</ref> The song "Up Where We Belong" (which Sainte-Marie co-wrote with lyricist Will Jennings and musician Jack Nitzsche) was performed by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the film An Officer and a Gentleman. It received the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1982.<ref name = "OscarBSM"/> On January 29, 1983, Jennings, Nitzsche, and Sainte-Marie won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.<ref name="Sheward-1997">Template:Harvnb.</ref> They also won the BAFTA film award for Best Original Song in 1984.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> On the Songs of the Century list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2001, the song was listed at number 323.<ref>Template:Harvnb.</ref> In 2020, it was included on Billboard magazine's list of the "25 Greatest Love Song Duets".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In the early 1980s, one of her songs was used as the theme song for the CBC's Native series Spirit Bay.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was cast for the TNT 1993 telefilm The Broken Chain.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1989, she wrote and performed the music for Where the Spirit Lives, a film about Native children being abducted, forced into residential schools, and expected to give up their Native way of life.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1986, British pop band Red Box covered her song "Qu'Appele Valley, Saskatchewan" (shortened to just "Saskatchewan") on their debut album The Circle & the Square.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The song appears on Sainte-Marie's 1976 album Sweet America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sainte-Marie voiced a Cheyenne character, Kate Bighead, in the 1991 made-for-TV movie Son of the Morning Star, telling the Indian side of the Battle of the Little Bighorn where the Sioux chief, Sitting Bull, defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Custer. In 1992, after a sixteen-year recording hiatus, Sainte-Marie released the album Coincidence and Likely Stories.<ref name="Strong-2000"/> Recorded in 1990 at home in Hawaii on her computer and transmitted via modem through the Internet to producer Chris Birkett in London, England,<ref name="DirectorsCut" /> the album included the politically charged songs "The Big Ones Get Away" and "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (which mentions Leonard Peltier), both commenting on the ongoing plight of Native Americans (see also the book and film with the same name). Also in 1992, Sainte-Marie appeared in the television film The Broken Chain with Wes Studi and Pierce Brosnan along with First Nations Bahá'í Phil Lucas.
Her next album followed up in 1996 with Up Where We Belong, an album on which she re-recorded a number of her greatest hits in more unplugged and acoustic versions, including a re-release of "Universal Soldier". Sainte-Marie has exhibited her art at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Emily Carr Gallery in Vancouver and the American Indian Arts Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1995, she provided the voice of the spirit in the magic mirror in HBO's Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, which featured a Native American retelling of the Snow White fairy tale. Also in 1995, the Indigo Girls released two versions of Sainte-Marie's protest song "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" on their album 1200 Curfews.
In 1996, she started the Nihewan Foundation, a philanthropic non-profit fund for American Indian Education devoted to improving Native American students' participation in learning. The word nihewan comes from the Cree language and means "talk Cree", which implies "be your culture". Sainte-Marie founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project in October 1996 using funds from her Nihewan Foundation and with a two-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan, with projects across Mohawk, Cree, Ojibwe, Menominee, Coeur d'Alene, Navajo, Quinault, Hawaiian, and Apache communities in eleven states, partnered with a non-Native class of the same grade level for Elementary, Middle, and High School grades in the disciplines of Geography, History, Social Studies, Music and Science and produced a multimedia curriculum CD, Science: Through Native American Eyes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2000–2023: Later work and retirement
In 2000, Sainte-Marie gave the commencement address at Haskell Indian Nations University.<ref>New generation of Haskell family honored, Topeka Capital-Journal, May 13, 2000, by Andrea Albright</ref> In 2002 she sang at the Kennedy Space Center for Commander John Herrington, USN, a Chickasaw and the first Native American astronaut.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2003 she became a spokesperson for the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network in Canada.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2002, a track written and performed by Sainte-Marie, titled "Lazarus", was sampled by Hip Hop producer Kanye West and performed by Cam'Ron and Jim Jones of The Diplomats. The track is called "Dead or Alive". In June 2007, she made a rare U.S. appearance at the Clearwater Festival in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.
In 2008, a two-CD set titled Buffy/Changing Woman/Sweet America: The Mid-1970s Recordings was released, compiling the three studio albums that she recorded for ABC Records and MCA Records between 1974 and 1976 (after departing her long-time label Vanguard Records). This was the first re-release of this material. In September 2008, Sainte-Marie made a comeback onto the music scene in Canada with the release of her studio album Running for the Drum. It was produced by Chris Birkett (producer of her 1992 and 1996 best of albums). Sessions for this project commenced in 2006 in Sainte-Marie's home studio in Hawaii and partly in France. They continued until spring 2007.Template:Citation needed In 2015, Sainte-Marie released the album Power in the Blood on True North Records. She had a television appearance on May 22, 2015, with Democracy Now! to discuss the record and her musical and activist career. On September 21, 2015, Power in the Blood was named the winner of the 2015 Polaris Music Prize.<ref>"Buffy Sainte-Marie wins Polaris Music Prize" Template:Webarchive. The Globe and Mail, September 21, 2015</ref> Also in 2015, A Tribe Called Red released an electronic remix of Sainte-Marie's song, "Working for the Government".<ref>"Buffy Sainte-Marie: "Working for the Government" (A Tribe Called Red remix)" Template:Webarchive. Exclaim!, July 2, 2015</ref>
In 2016, Sainte-Marie toured North America with Mark Olexson (bass), Anthony King (guitar), Michel Bruyere (drums), and Kibwe Thomas (keyboards).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, she released the single "You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)", a collaboration with fellow Polaris Music Prize laureate, Tanya Tagaq.<ref>"Buffy Sainte-Marie and Tanya Tagaq Share New Collaboration" Template:Webarchive. Exclaim!, February 21, 2017</ref> The song was inspired by George Attla, a champion dog sled racer from Alaska.<ref>Queens of Indigenous Music Buffy Ste-Marie and Tanya Tagaq Unite for “You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind)” Template:Webarchive. RPM.fm, February 22, 2017</ref> On November 29, 2019, a 50th-anniversary edition of Sainte-Marie's 1969 album, Illuminations, was released on vinyl by Concord Records, the company that bought Vanguard Records, the original publisher of the album.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sainte-Marie is the subject of Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On, a 2022 documentary film by Madison Thomas.<ref>Becca Longmire, "‘Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On’ To Premiere At TIFF 2022" Template:Webarchive. ET Canada, August 10, 2022.</ref> In the same year the National Arts Centre staged Buffy Sainte-Marie: Starwalker, a tribute concert of musicians performing Sainte-Marie's songs.<ref>Garret K. Woodward, "The Tragically Hip's Surviving Members Reunite to Pay Tribute to a Canadian Icon, Tease New Projects" Template:Webarchive. Rolling Stone, September 30, 2022.</ref> On August 3, 2023, Sainte-Marie issued a statement announcing her retirement from live performances, due to health concerns.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
In 1964, while on a trip to the Piapot Cree reserve in southern Saskatchewan for a powwow, she was adopted by the youngest son of Chief Piapot, Emile Piapot, and his wife, Clara Starblanket Piapot, in accordance with Cree Nation tradition.<ref name="DirectorsCut">Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life (Director's Cut) DVD, distributed by Filmwest Associates of Canada and the US, [1] Template:Webarchive, 2006</ref>
Although not an adherent, Sainte-Marie became an active friend of the Bahá'í faith, appearing at concerts for and conferences and conventions surrounding the religion. In 1992, she appeared in the musical event prelude to the Baháʼí World Congress, a double concert, "Live Unity: The Sound of the World" (1992) with video broadcast and documentary.<ref>Baháʼís and the Arts: Language of the Heart Template:Cite web by Ann Boyles, also published in 1994–95 edition of The Baháʼí World, pp. 243–72.</ref> In the video documentary of the event Sainte-Marie is seen on the Dini Petty Show explaining the Bahá'í teaching of progressive revelation.<ref>Live Unity: Sound of the World A Concert Documentary, VCR Video, distributed by Unity Arts Inc., of Canada, © Live Unity Enterprises, Inc., 1992.</ref> She also appears in the 1985 video Mona With The Children by Douglas John Cameron.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> However, while she supports a universal sense of religion, she does not subscribe to any particular religion. "I gave a lot of support to Bahá'í people in the '80s and '90s ... Bahá'í people, as people of all religions, is something I'm attracted to ... I don't belong to any religion. ... I have a huge religious faith or spiritual faith but I feel as though religion ... is the first thing that racketeers exploit. ... But that doesn't turn me against religion ...<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>Template:Rp
Sainte-Marie applied for Canadian citizenship through her Cree lawyer, Delia Opekokew, in 1980.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2017, she stated that she does not have a Canadian passport and is a US citizen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1968, Sainte-Marie married a surfing instructor, Dewain Bugbee, but later divorced.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She then married Sheldon Wolfchild with whom she had a son.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After a second divorce, she then married Jack Nitzsche, her co-writer on "Up Where We Belong" to whom she was married for seven years during the 1980s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Claim of Indigenous identity
Sainte-Marie has claimed<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> that she was born on the Piapot 75 reserve in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada, to Cree parents.<ref name=teos /><ref>Bennett, Tony, and Valda Blundell. 1995. Cultural studies. Vol. 9, no. 1, First peoples: cultures, policies, politics. London: Routledge. pg. 111; Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="whois"/> She has also claimed that, at the age of two or three, she was taken from her parents as part of the Sixties Scoop—a government policy, started in 1951, by which Indigenous children were taken from their families, communities, and cultures for placement with families that were not of First Nations heritage.<ref name=Scoop>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="whois" />
Early in her career, various newspapers referred to her as Algonquin, full-blooded Algonquin, Mi'kmaq, and half-Mi'kmaq.<ref name="whois"/> The first reference to Sainte-Marie being Cree that CBC News could locate during its investigation of her identity came in December 1963, when the Vancouver Sun called her a "Cree Indian".<ref name="whois"/> Sainte-Marie reiterated that she has community ties with the Piapot First Nation and that she was adopted as an adult by Chief Emile Piapot and Clara Starblanket.<ref name="whois"/> Emile's great-granddaughter Ntawnis Piapot has corroborated this, saying Sainte-Marie was adopted according to traditional Cree customs over "days and months and years".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Some members of the Sainte-Marie family had attempted to clarify her European ancestry in the 1960s and 1970s, but the singer threatened them with legal action for doing so.<ref name="whois"/> In December 1964, Arthur Santamaria, Sainte-Marie's paternal uncle, wrote to the Wakefield Daily Item, which published his editorial that Sainte-Marie "has no Indian blood in her" and "not a bit" of Cree heritage.<ref name="whois"/> Her brother, Alan Sainte-Marie, also wrote to newspapers, including the Denver Post in 1972, to clarify that his sister was not born on a reservation, has Caucasian parents, and that "to associate her with the Indian and to accept her as his spokesman is wrong".<ref name="whois"/>
Alan Sainte-Marie's daughter Heidi has stated that, in 1975, her father had met Buffy and a PBS producer for Sesame Street while working as a commercial pilot. She has said that the producer later asked her father if he was Indigenous because he did not look like he was. Her father clarified that they were of European ancestry and not Indigenous.<ref name="whois"/> On November 7, 1975, Alan Sainte-Marie received a letter from a law firm representing Buffy Sainte-Marie, which said, "We have been advised that you have without provocation disparaged and perhaps defamed Buffy and maliciously interfered with her employment opportunities." The letter also stated that no expense would be spared in pursuing legal remedies.<ref name="whois"/> Included with the law firm letter was a handwritten note from Buffy Sainte-Marie to her brother stating that she would expose him for allegedly sexually abusing her as a child if he continued speaking about her ancestry.<ref name="whois"/> He decided to back off from his letter-writing campaign and a month later on December 9, 1975, Buffy made her first appearance on Sesame Street.<ref name="whois"/>
On October 27, 2023, an investigation by the CBC's The Fifth Estate television program contradicted Sainte-Marie's career-long claims of Indigenous ancestry. It included interviews with some of her relatives and located her birth certificate which listed her as white and her supposed adopted parents as her birth parents.<ref name="whois">Template:Cite news</ref> In contrast, Sainte-Marie's 2018 authorized biography states she was "probably born" on the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and throughout her adult life she claimed she was adopted and does not know where she was born or who her biological parents are.<ref name="whois"/> There is no known official record of her adoption.<ref name="whois"/>
On the day before the broadcast of The Fifth Estate, the Descendants of Piapot and Starblanket issued a statement defending Sainte-Marie's ties to the Piapot First Nation, saying: "We claim her as a member of our family and all of our family members are from the Piapot First Nation. To us, that holds far more weight than any paper documentation or colonial record keeping ever could." They also criticized the allegations against Sainte-Marie as being "hurtful, ignorant, colonial — and racist".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As part of its reporting, the CBC also published Sainte-Marie's official birth certificate. It indicates that she was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts, to her white parents, Albert and Winifred Santamaria.Template:R Her son Cody says she obtained Native identity through "naturalization" and not by birth.<ref name="Agoyo-2023">Template:Cite web</ref> To verify Sainte-Marie's early Mi'kmaq identity claims, her younger sister took a DNA test which showed that she had "almost no" Native American ancestry and she says she is genetically related to Sainte-Marie's son, which would not be possible if Sainte-Marie was adopted as she claimed.<ref name="Agoyo-2023"/>
Responding to the CBC News findings, the acting chief of the Piapot First Nation, Ira Lavallee, noted that despite her false claims of Indigenous ancestry, Sainte-Marie remained accepted, saying: "We do have one of our families in our community that did adopt her. Regardless of her ancestry, that adoption in our culture to us is legitimate."<ref name=Alexander2023>Template:Cite web</ref> In late November 2023, Sainte-Marie deleted all claims of being Cree and born on Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan from her official website. Lavallee said that Sainte-Marie should take a DNA test to clear up the confusion: "That's something that anyone in my community can do and would not have fear of doing because we know who we are and what we are, and it's easily provable through a DNA test. If Buffy did that, that's one thing that could clear all this up."<ref name="DNA test">Template:Cite web</ref> Cree author Darrel J. McLeod said that Sainte-Marie is an honorary member of the Piapot family, but that growing up with a white family allowed her to develop her talent and audience from a young age and that she should "apologize, come clean, stop gaslighting us and find a way to make amends".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In late November 2023, following the award of an International Emmy to a documentary film about her life (Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On), Sainte-Marie stated, "My mother told me that I was adopted and that I was Native, but there was no documentation as was common for Indigenous children at the time" adding that "I don't know where I'm from or who my birth parents are, and I will never know." She also stated, "I have never known if my birth certificate was real."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Honors and awards
Honorary degrees
Sainte-Marie has been awarded 15 honorary doctorates. With regard to the University of Massachusetts, her website states that she was awarded an "Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts" in 1983. However, in an interview published in 2009, she stated that "I also got a teaching degree from the University of Massachusetts and later, a PhD in fine arts".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
| University | Title | Year Awarded |
|---|---|---|
| University of Regina | Honorary Doctor of Laws | 1996<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> |
| Lakehead University | Honorary Doctor of Letters | 2000<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
| University of Saskatchewan | Honorary Doctor of Humanities | 2003<ref name="Sask">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design | Honorary Doctor of Letters | 2007<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Carleton University | Honorary Doctor of Laws | 2008<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| University of Western Ontario | Honorary Doctor of Music | 2009<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Ontario College of Art and Design | Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts | 2010<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Brandon University | Honorary Doctor of Music | 2010<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| Wilfrid Laurier University | Honorary Doctor of Letters | 2010<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| University of British Columbia | Honorary Doctor of Letters | 2012<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> |
| Vancouver Island University | Honorary Doctor of Laws | 2016<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| University of Lethbridge | Honorary Doctor of Laws | 2017<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> |
| Dalhousie University | Honorary Doctor of Laws | 2018<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| University of Toronto | Honorary Doctor of Laws | 2019<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
Personal awards
| Award | Year Awarded | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal | 2002<ref name="GG-Honours">Template:Cite web</ref> | Revoked 2025<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | 2012<ref name="GG-Honours"/> | Revoked 2025<ref name=":2" /> | |
| Juno Humanitarian Award | 2017<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | Revoked 2025<ref name=":2" /> | Awarded as Allan Waters Humanitarian Award |
| Companion of the Order of Canada | 2019<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | Terminated 2025<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> | Promotion from Officer in 1997<ref name="The Governor General of Canada 1997 z134">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| PARO Inaugural Women Voice Award | 2019<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | ||
| Canadian Music Week Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award |
2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | ||
| TIFF Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media | 2022<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> |
Performance awards
Other
- In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Sainte-Marie's name and picture.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Canada Post stamp of Sainte-Marie in 2021<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Award-related reactions following ancestry controversy
In 2023, Buffy Sainte-Marie's false claims to an Indigenous identity were revealed by The Fifth Estate. Since then, there have been calls to rescind awards given to Sainte-Marie that were meant for Indigenous people.<ref name="sfchron2023">Template:Cite news</ref> Indigenous musicians who lost to Sainte-Marie have expressed their disappointment. Issiqut Anguk, sister of singer Kelly Fraser who lost the 2018 Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year to her, wrote that Fraser "respected Buffy so much and it hurts to hear that maybe, just maybe it would've changed Kelly's life if she won the Juno award and Buffy didn't."<ref name="sfchron2023"/> The Indigenous Women's Collective expressed dismay at Sainte-Marie's winning a 2023 International Emmy Award for her documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On and have asked the Juno Awards to revisit the 2018 category to "explore ways of righting a past wrong. All Indigenous artists in this 2018 category should be reconsidered for this rightful honour."<ref name="CP24 2023 h358">Template:Cite web</ref> Tim Johnson, the former associate director of the National Museum of the American Indian says her Juno awards should be rescinded and the Indigenous musicians who lost against Sainte-Marie should be considered her victims.<ref name="Colesawards">Template:Cite web</ref> Rhonda Head, an award-winning opera singer from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation says, "She won awards that were an accolade, that were meant for Indigenous musicians and that's what really hurts me the most. I would like to see that her awards be taken away forever, for her not being truthful and taking up space."<ref name="Francisaptn">Template:Cite web</ref>
On November 8, 2023, the University of British Columbia First Nations House of Learning issued a statement explaining that, in light of the ancestry issues of Buffy Sainte-Marie, they were deciding on the next steps regarding the honorary degree UBC had awarded Sainte-Marie in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The university removed that statement from their website at some point after April 2024 with no further explanation on the status of the honorary degree.Template:Citation needed
On February 7, 2025, the Government of Canada published a document stating that Sainte-Marie had been removed from the Order of Canada by Governor General Mary Simon on January 3, 2025. Appointments and terminations to the Order of Canada are both made on the basis of an advisory council.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2025, Sainte-Marie had her Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Polaris Music Prizes, Juno Awards, and Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction rescinded because she was deemed no longer to meet eligibility criteria owing to her not being a Canadian citizen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album<ref name="Strong-2000"/> | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> |
AUS <ref name="aus">Template:Cite book</ref> |
UK <ref name="Roberts-2006"/> |
US <ref name="US200">Template:Cite magazine</ref> | ||
| 1964 | It's My Way! | — | Template:N/a | — | — |
| 1965 | Many a Mile | — | Template:N/a | — | — |
| 1966 | Little Wheel Spin and Spin | — | Template:N/a | — | 97 |
| 1967 | Fire & Fleet & Candlelight | — | Template:N/a | — | 126 |
| 1968 | I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again | — | Template:N/a | — | 171 |
| 1969 | Illuminations | — | — | — | — |
| 1971 | She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina | — | 47 | — | 182 |
| 1972 | Moonshot | — | — | — | 134 |
| 1973 | Quiet Places | — | — | — | — |
| 1974 | Buffy | — | — | — | — |
| 1975 | Changing Woman | — | — | — | — |
| 1976 | Sweet America | — | — | — | — |
| 1992 | Coincidence and Likely Stories | 63 | — | 39 | — |
| 1996 | Up Where We Belong | — | — | — | — |
| 2008 | Running for the Drum | — | — | — | — |
| 2015 | Power in the Blood | — | — | — | — |
| 2017 | Medicine Songs | — | — | — | — |
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Attla: A Motion Picture Soundtrack Album (with William Ackerman)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US<ref name="US200"/> | ||
| 1970 | The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie | 142 |
| 1971 | The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie Vol. 2 | — |
| 1974 | Native North American Child: An Odyssey | — |
| 1976 | Indian Girl (European release) | — |
| A Golden Hour of the Best Of (UK release) | — | |
| 2003 | The Best of the Vanguard Years | — |
| 2008 | Buffy/Changing Woman/Sweet America | — |
| 2010 | The Pathfinder: Buried Treasures – The Mid-70's Recordings | — |
Singles
| Year | Single<ref name="Strong-2000">Template:Cite book</ref> | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> |
CAN AC <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> |
AUS <ref name=aus/> |
UK <ref name="Roberts-2006">Template:Cite book</ref> |
US <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | |||
| 1965 | "Until It's Time for You to Go" | — | — | — | — | — | Many a Mile |
| 1970 | "The Circle Game" | 76 | — | 83 | — | 109 | Fire & Fleet & Candlelight |
| 1971 | "Soldier Blue" | — | — | — | 7 | — | She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina |
| "I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again" | 86 | — | — | 34 | 98 | I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again | |
| 1972 | "Mister Can't You See" | 21 | — | 70 | — | 38 | Moonshot |
| "He's an Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo" | — | — | — | — | 98 | ||
| 1973 | "I Wanna Hold Your Hand Forever"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | — | — | — | — | — | N/A |
| 1974 | "Waves" | — | 27 | — | — | — | Buffy |
| 1992 | "The Big Ones Get Away" | 24 | 14 | — | 39 | — | Coincidence & Likely Stories |
| "Fallen Angels" | 50 | 26 | — | 57 | — | ||
| 1996 | "Until It's Time for You to Go" | — | 54 | — | — | — | Up Where We Belong |
| 2008 | "No No Keshagesh" | — | — | — | — | — | Running for the Drum |
| 2017 | "You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)" (featuring Tanya Tagaq) |
— | — | — | — | — | Medicine Songs |
Soundtrack appearances
| Year | Song(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | "Dyed, Dead, Red" and "Hashishin" with Ry Cooder | Performance |
| 2019 | "The Circle Game" | Once Upon A Time In Hollywood |
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Template:Commons category Template:Sister project
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- Article at The Canadian Encyclopedia
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