Music: {allcanada} Michelle Wright Inducted Into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame

Monday, September 12, 2011

{allcanada} Michelle Wright Inducted Into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame

GAC congratulates Michelle Wright, who was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame over the weekend along with Bill Langstroth, host of Singalong Jubilee. Michelle has charted 25 songs in Canada, seven of which were No. 1 and has won more than 40 international awards. Her song "Take It Like A Man" was a Top 10 hit in the U.S.

"I started out on the farm, with a guitar in my room," Michelle told the Ottawa Citizen. "Then the CCMA calls and asks me if I'd accept induction into the Hall of Fame. I've never said this out loud but I thought, 'If you get into the hall, does that mean people will think your career is over? And in the next breath I said, 'Well, yes. Of course. Thank you so much.'"

Michelle, who turned 50 on July 1, moved to Nashville 20 years ago. She was signed by Arista Nashville, validating her dreams to 'make it' in Nashville.

"I'd always wondered, 'Can I make it to Nashville?'" Michelle said. "It's like an actress wondering if she can get to Hollywood, or a stage actor to New York. It had always been a dream of mine. It was a leap of faith, totally. But I was so naive that I didn't believe we could fail. Nobody ever sat me down and said: 'Sister, the odds of you being successful are one in a million.'"

Michelle resides in Nashville with her husband but makes frequent trips to Canada to both perform and visit family and friends. She does miss one convenience of living in Canada, however. "What do I miss most about Canada?" she said. "Being able to get vinegar for my fries at McDonald's. As Canadians, we've got to change that. But getting home so often now lets me get my little bit of the Canadian experience."

Michelle will release The Wright Songs, an evening of live acoustic performances, later this year and is working on a new studio album. In December she will hit the road with her popular Christmas show.