Academy Award-winning songwriter, musician and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie has signed with Cameron Strang’s Howe Sound Music Publishing to represent her illustrious catalog.
Buffy Sainte-Marie is the most recognized, celebrated, and successful Indigenous artist of all time. Over the course of her five-decade career, Buffy has inspired multiple generations of musicians, artists, and activists. This powerful, raw singer/songwriter with unmatched scope has steadfastly refused to be trapped in the patterns of the past or be entangled in the limitations of the contemporary music industry, especially its stipulation that artists must be mainstream to succeed.
In addition to winning five JUNO Awards and being inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1995, Buffy was the first Indigenous person to win an Academy Award Oscar as co-writer of “Up Where We Belong” in 1983 for Best Original Song. From the film An Officer and a Gentleman, the song recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes also won Golden Globe and BAFTA statues.
Her catalog includes: “Until It’s Time For You To Go,” “Up Where We Belong,” “Universal Soldier,” Cod’ine,” “Soldier Blue,” “Now That The Buffalo’s Gone,” “My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying,” “Starwalker,” “Carry It On,” “He’s An Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo,” “It’s My Way,” “I’m Gonna Be A Country Girl Again,” “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” “No No Keshagesh,” “Piney Wood Hills,” “Darling Don’t Cry,” “You Got To Run (Spirit of the Wind),” Little Wheel Spin and Spin,” and hundreds more.
Her songs have been recorded by Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Gram Parsons, Janis Joplin, Neko Case, Françoise Hardy, Cher, Indigo Girls, Bobby Darin, Neil Diamond, Chet Atkins, Kanye West, Shirley Bassey, Donovan, Joe Cocker, Jennifer Warnes, Glen Campbell, Andy Williams, Peggy Lee, Roberta Flack, Young Thugs, Willie Nelson, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Man, the Barracudas, Courtney Love, and many, many others.
“Our goal is to support Buffy, take care of her songs and find new ways to bring her music to people,” says Strang, the former Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records and Warner Chappell Music Publishing. “I have so much admiration for Buffy. She’s an amazing person, an incredible artist and activist who is dedicated to creativity. She really lives it, and it’s a beautiful thing.”
Adds Buffy’s long-time manager, Gilles Paquin, CEO and President of Paquin Entertainment Group in “Buffy had been resistant to making a publishing deal until Cameron. She wanted someone who would help protect her music and legacy who also understands and connects with her music and lyrics. Cameron understands that Buffy’s messaging has continued to develop over the years. He also understands the importance of her work in the indigenous movement and the relevance of her music to the contemporary world.
Additionally, production has begun on a feature documentary film, Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On, directed by Madison Thomas. The film will blend the multifaceted eras of Buffy’s life experiences and will immerse the audience in the depths of her equanimity, devotion to innovation, passion for philosophy, and love for the world. The film is produced by White Pine Pictures, Eagle Vision and Paquin Entertainment and is slated to be released theatrically in the Fall of 2022, followed by broadcasts via Bell Media and APTN in Canada and PBS/American Masters in the US.
