The contemporary Celtic musician Loreena McKennitt singlehandedly proves that years of steadfast determination - when coupled with well-honed skill and expert timing - can a successful career make. All but a complete unknown into her late twenties, the Manitoban McKennitt launched herself onto the charts by founding her own label, Quinlan Road, in the mid-eighties, and issuing several markedly impressive recordings: the 1985 Elemental, the 1987 To Drive the Cold Winter Away, and the 1989 Parallel Dreams. This inspired Warner Canada to pick up her fourth effort, The Visit (1991), which - with sales of more than a half million copies - secured a broad fanbase for McKennitt. Five additional LPs followed through 1999, coupled with extensive film and television soundtrack work. McKennitt's music is marked by soothing, relaxing, gentle arrangements with solid melodic hooks, and complex, fully literate lyrics, culled largely from the poetry of Yeats, Blake, Tennyson and others. The twenty-six minute film Loreena McKennitt: No Journey's End, provides the first authorized documentary overview of the songstress's career, and her incredible ascent to stardom. This release also features two of McKennitt's music videos: The Bonny Swans, from her 1994 Mask and the Mirror album on Warners, and The Mummers' Dance, from her 1997 Book of Secrets album on Warners/Quinlan Road. As an added bonus, it includes an interactive discography that allows the user to explore McKennitt's catalog.
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