Musicians mourn Cape Breton singer-songwriter Rita MacNeil

HALIFAX — She was the unlikely star from Cape Breton with the voice of an angel. Last night Rita MacNeil died from complications following surgery. She was 68.

Today family, friends and fellow musicians are in mourning.

“It’s just a tremendous loss for all of Canada. I mean she had fans from coast to coast and really all over the world. She was just as loved in British Columbia as she was in Nova Scotia and a lot of people talk about the Expo ’86 trip and how that really launched her career, and I had the privilege of being there for all that,” said Allie Bennett a friend and former bass player for MacNeil.

Bennett says the audience really connected with her genuine character.

“Just the pureness of her voice and the honesty of the songs and it was quite amazing to see how her music touched so many people over the years.” added Bennett.

“People loved her, really, they just loved her,” said Kim Dunn, a keyboard player in MacNeil’s band for years, “I think that spoke greatly to how real she was, how down to Earth she was, how humble she was and at the same time she was so giving and generous with her time”.

“She was a great Cape Bretoner. She was a great Maritimer and she cared passionately for this part of the world,” said Brookes Diamond, MacNeil’s former manager.

“She wouldn’t live anywhere else, and we would like to think no one else would either, so it’s wonderful to have somebody who felt that way, and believed it and lived it.”

Diamond says MacNeil carved her own, individual path in the music industry — an effort that’s paved the way for a number of future musicians.

“She was the first one to break out of the East Coast with hit radio material, back in the days when radio really did count,” Diamond said.

“Rita was an unlikely suspect for the radio world, and yet her power got her through, broke down the doors, all the no’s and got her on radio, and once the public heard her and saw her, saw her for what she really was it was all over, she won.”