Buffy Sainte-Marie

Buffy Sainte-Marie, OC (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941 or this date in 1942) is an Academy Award-winning Canadian First Nations musician, composer, visual artist, pacifist, educator and social activist. Buffy Sainte-Marie was born February 20, 1941 or 1942 on the Piapot Cree Indian reserve in the Qu'Appelle valley, Saskatchewan, Canada. She was orphaned and later adopted, growing up in Maine with parents Albert and Winifred Sainte-M... more

Buffy Sainte-Marie, OC (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941 or this date in 1942) is an Academy Award-winning Canadian First Nations musician, composer, visual artist, pacifist, educator and social activist. Buffy Sainte-Marie was born February 20, 1941 or 1942 on the Piapot Cree Indian reserve in the Qu'Appelle valley, Saskatchewan, Canada. She was orphaned and later adopted, growing up in Maine with parents Albert and Winifred Sainte-Marie who were related to her biological parents. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, earning degrees in teaching and Oriental philosophy and graduating in the top ten of her class. She also earned a Ph.D. in Fine Arts. In 1964 on a return trip to the Piapot Cree reserve in Canada for a Powwow she was welcomed and (in a Cree nation context) adopted by the youngest son of Chief Piapot, Imu Piapot and his wife who added to Sainte-Marie's cultural value of, and place in, First Nations culture. In 1968 she married surfing teacher... less