Who

Pop musician Wainwright's carefully crafted songs and good looks have made him something of a gay icon.

Backstory

Born in Rhinebeck, NY, Wainwright is the son of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, who divorced when Rufus was a young kid. He then lived with his mom in Canada, where he started playing the piano and touring with her from the age of 13. After bouncing around the club circuit in Montreal, he moved to LA, where he signed with DreamWorks and released his orchestral self-titled debut in 1998; the album received massive critical acclaim and earned him Rolling Stone's "Best New Artist" designation. Since 1999, he's been living in New York and has released several additional albums, including Poses, Want One and Want Two.

Of note

Wainwright is a gifted pianist and guitarist, and while his music draws primarily from pop music, it also features heavy classical and operatic influence. He's also one of the surprisingly few pop stars who are out of the closet, and his looks and often frank lyrics have made him one of the more prominent gay musicians around. In 2006, he staged a well-publicized tribute to Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall, doing a song-by-song recreation of her legendary 1961 show. But while he has a rabidly devoted cult following of middle-aged gays and teenage girls, his albums haven't exactly been commercial blockbusters. His most recent album, Release the Stars, debuted at a less-than-stellar No. 23 on the Billboard charts in May 2007.

On screen

Wainright had a cameo as a nightclub bandleader in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.

Vice

Around the time Poses came out, Wainwright became so addicted to crystal meth that he says he went temporarily blind. Elton John eventually convinced him to enter rehab at Hazeldon in Minnesota. Wainwright later (controversially) described his descent into drugs as "gay hell" in a Times interview.

Family ties

Music most definitely runs in the family: His sisters, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, often tour with him. His mother and aunt perform together as The McGarrigle Sisters. His father's biggest hit was the 1972 novelty song "Dead Skunk."

Personal

After he was raped in London's Hyde Park at age 14 by a man he met at a bar, the teenage Wainwright convinced himself that that he was infected with AIDS. Emotionally scarred and sure he was going to die, he remained celibate until the age of 21. He's currently in a relationship with Jorn Weisbrodt, a concert manager for the Berlin State Opera. After briefly living in the Chelsea Hotel, he now owns a 425-square-foot apartment on Gramercy Park North.

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