A biography for Rufus Wainwrighthasn’t been written yet.
“I'm definitely a fan of juxtaposition. Using the most beautiful line to say the most horrific thing - I think one of the main things in songwriting is definitely friction between the words and the melody.”
“I was reared on folk music.”
“I made the decision to take on board the critical feedback. Reviews are something you can easily ignore as a performer or writer but I chose to not ignore them here and I think that I benefited. I think I'm stronger for it - and I have a tougher skin as a result.”
“The thing I hate most is false modesty. The artists who are, like, 'Oh, you know, I'm really not that good. Oh, I can't believe I'm here.' I find it vaguely sinister, even.”
“I'm not born again, I'm not Kabbalah, God forbid, but I did have an experience hitting 30 that I needed to lean on something that assured me that everything is going to be okay. I had to regain a lot of my belief in fairy tales, in happy endings.”
“There's no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable.”
“I love being not cool.”
“I'm your knight in shining armor. I'm here to save you from Linkin Park.”
“Some people go to Berlin to get more cutting edge; I went and started wearing lederhosen and going to visit baroque palaces.”
“My parents were serious working musicians, but they were not stars - not like pop stars that you have now. They had to make a living and that meant touring, working hard, going on the road - and we were roped in.”
“'Prima Donna' is my kind of love song to opera but it's not the full experience.”
“I have earned hundreds of thousands of pounds, but I can't seem to get to grips with money.”
“When it came to using elements of your personal life in your work, my mother was the master, or the mistress. There were three or four songs she wrote about my father - songs about failed love.”
“I bemoan the fact that all my famous friends have places in St. Bart's and I have to go to Montauk.”
“There's prejudice everywhere. I don't think the music industry is as bad as the movie industry. But I have taken a few hits over the years for my sexuality, and for being honest about my life. In the end, it's the music that rules the roost.”
“I definitely try to broaden the scope of music. I don't know if it's pop or classical or what, but I'm religiously challenging myself all the time, for better or for worse.”
“I have a good face for what I do.”
“I have never cooked a meal in my life and always end up paying for dozens of people to eat with me.”
“I'm very much a romantic. I'm highly attuned to an older sensibility, which I believe is alive and well. We're not that far ahead of the Romantic Age in society.”
“When I'm in the classical world, I really treat it as exactly classical and I don't try and spruce it up or jazz it up or make it easier for the masses.”