Like many musicians writing for adult audiences, not all of Rufus Wainwright's music is appropriate for kids, but most if it is, and it's amazing stuff - a "baroque pop" that combines dense orchestration with soaring pop tunes. One of Wainwright's songs, "Natasha," was my first and longest-standing adapted lullaby for Z when she was a baby (her first name has the same number of syllables and ends in a rhyme, so it's easy to substitute.) She has spent two years listening to Wainwright's music and now, at four, is very interested in him. What follows is the first in a series I'll call "Listening to," in which Z and I converse over an artist's music. All album links lead to Amazon pages where you can listen to samples of the songs we're listening to here. In the case of Wainwright, many of the details of his challenging life can wait for years before Z has a very real sense of where he's coming from. (I'll admit that I'm even leaving some of the most colorful of his adventures out of this post... just have to draw the line somewhere.) But she loves what she hears, and I'd recommend any Rufus Wainwright album in its near-entirety for kids and parents to enjoy together except Want Two.

"Sanssouci," Release the Stars

Z: I want to see a picture of him.

Me: OK. [Google search.] Here's some.

Z: [Doe-eyed]: He's handsome. He's handsome.

Me: Yeah. I like those clothes.

Z: Yeah. He's really handsome. He sings pretty. Is that you singing?

Me: Well, I'm singing with him.

Z: Where does he live? In London?

Me: [Surprised] Maybe. I'll check. [Begins writing post.]

Z: Are you working to find out where he lives?

Me: Yeah. Well, sort of.

Z: Oh.

"Movies of Myself," from Want One

Z: He sings pretty. Do I sing prettier?

Me: Well, I think you sing very pretty too.

Z: I sing prettier. Where does he live? Where does he live?

"Little Sister," from Want Two

Z: This is my favorite song.

Me: It's one of mine too.

[Reading to self, silently, on Wikipedia.]

Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III (a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of New Netherland). His parents divorced when he was three years old, and he lived with his mother in Montréal, Canada for most of his youth. Wainwright is both a U.S and Canadian citizen. He attended high school at the Millbrook School in upstate New York (which would later inspire his song "Millbrook"), and later briefly studied piano at Concordia and McGill Universities in Montréal. He began playing the piano at age six, and started touring at thirteen with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family", a folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, and aunt Anna. ...

At the age of fourteen, Wainwright was sexually assaulted in London's Hyde Park after picking up a man at a bar. He remained celibate for seven years after the incident, which he claims postponed his becoming promiscuous. In an interview several years later, he described the event: "I said I wanted to go to the park and see where this big concert was going on. I thought it was going to be a romantic walk in the park, but he raped me and robbed me afterwards and tried to strangle me". Wainwright states that he survived only by pretending to be an epileptic and faking a seizure. ...

The singer moved to New York City in 1996 and began performing regularly at Club Fez, building a loyal local audience. He relocated to Los Angeles later that year and began recording his first studio album, 1998's Rufus Wainwright. Waronker paired Wainwright with producer Jon Brion, and the two spent most of 1996 and 1997 making the record. Wainwright recorded 56 songs in total, spread out over 62 rolls of tape. Costs for the recording sessions reached $700,000.

Wainwright's self-titled debut received critical acclaim; Rolling Stone recognized it as one of the best albums of the year, and named the singer "Best New Artist" of the year. Wainwright was nominated for four awards by the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards, including Album of the Year, Pop Recording of the Year and Video of the Year, and won for Best New Artist. Rufus Wainwright won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album and a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album. However, commercial success of the album was limited; the debut failed to chart in any country, though he ranked #24 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.

I can't really tell where he lives.

Z: Why? Why can't you tell me?

Me: I mean I don't know. The words I found don't say. They say where he lived at different times, but not where he lives now.

[Reading more, silently.]

Wainwright became addicted to crystal meth in the early 2000s and temporarily lost his vision as a result. His addiction reached its peak in 2002, during what he described as "the most surreal week of my life." ...

Seeking guidance, he telephoned his friend Elton John, who persuaded him to check in to rehab at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. He detoxed and underwent therapy at the facility, which he has stated in several interviews gave him "a second chance". He refrains from discussing his experience in rehab or answering questions about his subsequent sobriety, although he adamantly opposes crystal meth use.

Z: Does he live in London?

Me: I think he lives in New York or L.A. He lived in both places.

Z: Does he live in the place with the flood that you loved? [New Orleans.]

Z: Maybe he writes music for people for dancing. Like ballet.

Me: It's funny you should mention that. He is actually writing an opera.

[Reading again.]

Following his 2007-2008 tour, Wainwright began writing his first opera, Prima Donna, which he says will be about "a day in the life of an opera singer" anxiously preparing for her comeback, who falls in love with a journalist. There are four characters, and the libretto will be in French. The opera was originally commissioned by Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb. However, because of a dispute over Wainwright's decision to write the libretto in French and the Met's inability to schedule an opening in the 2009 season, Wainwright and the Met have ended their relationship. Instead of opening Prima Donna in New York, Wainwright will stage it for the Manchester International Festival in 2009, where the first stagings will take place on July 10, 12, 14, 17, and 19.

Read a five-minute interview with Rufus Wainwright, including a discussion of the opera.

"Do I Disappoint You," from Release the Stars

Z: Daddy! This is one of my songs! [Z has had most of Release the Stars on her music player since she was two.]

Me: You're right!

Z: It even has kids in it. Why does it have kids in it?

Me: I guess they wanted to have kids in it. Do you like the kids' singing?

Z: Yeah. This song is my song. - Jeremiah