Buffy Sainte-Marie biography and career timeline | American Masters

[Editor’s Note – November 3, 2023: Recent investigative reports have sought to raise questions about Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Indigenous heritage. Sainte-Marie has stated that she is uncertain of her biological heritage and affirms her formal adoption into and identification with the Cree nation.]

An Oscar-winning Indigenous artist who rose to prominence in New York’s Greenwich Village folk music scene, Buffy Sainte-Marie has had a six-decade groundbreaking career as a singer-songwriter, social activist, educator and artist. This timeline explores Sainte-Marie’s life and the major milestones in her career.

Born on a Plains Cree First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan, Buffy Sainte-Marie was adopted as an infant and raised in Maine and Massachusetts.

1941

Sainte-Marie begins showing an interest in music and starts playing the piano at the age of 3.

1944

Sainte-Marie graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts, and then moved to New York where she started playing the coffeehouse folk music scene alongside other Canadian icons.

1963

That same year, she wrote the anti-war protest anthem Universal Soldier and was already performing it in coffeehouses, but was banned from singing it on the radio and TV until 1965.

1963

Sainte-Marie's First Album

Her debut album releases, "It’s My Way!" Sainte-Marie was named "Best New Artist" by Billboard Magazine.

1964

Released "Many A Mile."

1965

Released "Little Wheel Spin And Spin."

1966

Released "Fire & Fleet & Candlelight."

1967

She guest starred on NBC’s "The Virginian," where she only agreed to do so after requesting all Indian roles be played by Native Americans.

1968

Released "I’m Gonna Be A Country Girl Again."

1968

An Electronic Pioneer

She released her album Illuminations, which is considered to be a groundbreaking work of early electronic music.

1969

She created the Cradleboard Teaching Project, an ongoing effort to teach native children core subjects like science from an indigenous perspective. Cradleboard was a spinoff of the Nihewan Foundation for Native American Education, which she founded in 1969.

1969

She appears on the Johnny Cash Show where they sing "Custer," a ballad about General George Custer who led his men to death in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

1969

She suspects her music is being blacklisted from US radio due to strong environmental and indigenous rights messaging.

1960s-1970s

Released "The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie."

1970

Released "She Used To Wanna Be A Ballerina" and "The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie, Vol. 2."

1971

Elvis records “Until It’s Time for You to Go” written by Buffy Sainte-Marie.

1972

Released "Quiet Places."

1973

Released "Buffy" and "Native North American Child."

1974

Released "Changing Woman."

1975

Released "Sweet America." Her son was born and she quit recording after releasing 15 albums and became a regular on "Sesame Street" between 1976 and 1981.

1976

Sainte-Marie Marks a Television Milestone

She breastfed her son on "Sesame Street," one of the first times breastfeeding was depicted on TV.

1977

Sainte-Marie lent support alongside Muhammad Ali for the Longest Walk in support of American-Indian rights.

1978

She was featured on a Supersisters trading card used to celebrate famous women.

1979

The First Indigenous Oscar Winner

She won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for co-writing the song “Up Where We Belong,” used in the 1982 romantic drama "An Officer and a Gentleman" and sung by Jennifer Warnes and Joe Cocker.

1982

She starts recording music and making art on a Macintosh computer.

1984

Released "Coincidence and Likely Stories."

1992

She acted in the TV movie "The Broken Chain" with Pierce Brosnan.

1993

Sainte-Marie was Inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

1995

Won a Genie for her 1996 TV special "Buffy Sainte-Marie: Up Where We Belong."

1996

Released "Running for the Drum" and was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

2009

Sainte-Marie was awarded a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2010.

2010

Released "Power In the Blood." "Power in the Blood" won the Polaris Music Prize and received three 2016 JUNO nominations.

2015

Released "Medicine Songs" and collaborates with Tanya Tagaq on “You Got to Run.”

2017

Andrea Warner writes an authorized biography of Buffy Sainte-Marie with a foreword by Joni Mitchell.

2018

She published her first children's book about pet adoption, "Hey Little Rockabye."

2020

Won the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize awarded to her debut album It’s My Way, for impact and cultural relevance decades after its release.

2020

Publishes her children’s books "Tâpwê and the Magic Hat" "Still this Love Goes On."

2022

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bsu6bAjpqknqqZmK6vucCsq56qo2SvtrLFsmSsmZmjwaZ5zJqpop1dl7aws9Gap6GxXZa7pXnCmqmenaJiwaq5xKWgp51fZ4Jyf5Zo