Rufus Wainwright

by Katherine Williams

Book cover: Rufus Wainwright

Extent: 142 pages

Publisher: Equinox Publishing

Subjects: Music & Performing Arts

Series: Popular Music History

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(September 2016)

ISBN: 9781781795194

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $29.95

Out of stock

Hardback (Published)

(January 2016)

ISBN: 9781845532932

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $39.95

In stock

Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright (b. 1973) is famous around the world for his engaging live performances and multifaceted musical style. This book uses several aspects of his musical style, persona, and biography as springboards from which to discuss and interrogate musicological and analytical frameworks. A primary theme is the interplay between popular music and Western Art Music. Rufus Wainwright aims to show that different techniques of analyzing music from a popular musicology standpoint are a valuable contribution to the wider musicological discipline, and conversely that the application of theories from traditional musicology can shed light on popular song.


Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright (b. 1973) is famous around the world for his multi-faceted musical style, shown through both his recorded output and his engaging live performances. In this book, Katherine Williams combines aspects of his life story with scholarly readings drawn from several methodologies. Popular music studies, opera, queer studies, music and geography, the sound-box: all combine to give a rich biographical and interpretative overview of Wainwright’s life and music. Williams brings together close musical analysis with such varied disciplinary perspectives with a tone that is both in-depth and scholarly, and accessible. The book is a must-read for fans, students and scholars alike.

  • By (author) Katherine Williams

"Other writers and researchers might find inspiration in this book to examine further the music of Rufus Wainwright, a complex subject that invites both traditional and popular musicological perspectives." --Stephanie Bonjack, University of Colorado (Boulder), NOTES, June 2017
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